[Beta-1,3-glucomannanase assisted lipid extraction from Rhodosporidium toruloides]

To evaluate the effectiveness of enzymatic assisted extraction (EAE) of lipid from the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides in the presence of beta-1,3-glucomannanase at a larger scale, we investigated the effects of enzymatic treatment and extraction conditions on lipid extraction yields at 10-L scale by using the broth of R. toruloides Y4 as the feed and ethyl acetate as the solvent. When it was treated for 0.5 h, the lipid extraction yield reached 71.1%, indicating that the enzymatic treatment process reached similar efficiency to that obtained at 10-mL scale. The inhibitory effect of emulsification was greatly reduced by repeated extraction. After extracted for three times, yields of lipid extraction, solvent recovery and total material recovery reached 92.9%, 87.0% and 94.2% respectively. As it can use the lipid production slurry with good extraction efficiency, EAE technology is promising for industrial production of microbial lipids.