Microbial Oil Production from Waste Rose Pulp by Newly Isolated Wickerhamomyces subpelliculosus 6

Abstract Objective The pulp, remaining after the rose oil and rose water are extracted from the rose, are left around and cannot be utilized economically. It was aimed in this study to produce microbial oil for the first time by means of W. subpeliculosa in medium containing waste rose pulp as a carbon source. The aim of ceasing the high amount of rose pulp to be a pollutant and also making contribution to the biodiesel production, which is a cheap and environmentally-friendly fuel for the national economy. Methods Two applications were made on the waste rose pulp. One of them is that the waste rose pulp has been treated with water. In the second application, it was pretreated with 1% H2SO4. “Box Behnken Experimental Design Method”, having 3 variables with 2 replicates from 15 experimental points, was used in the optimization experiments with the response surface method of the lipid production parameters, containing temperature, and inoculum age and inoculum volume. Results 45% oil yield was obtained from W. subpelliculosus with the waste rose pulp treated with acid and the microbial lipid was produced for the first time in this study. The profile of fatty acid produced consists of 45% palmitic acid, 42,62% stearic acid and 7,38% oleic acid and its fatty acid composition is highly similar to the vegetable oil acids. Conclusion It is considered to be a suitable material for biodiesel production.