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Title: FERMENTATION-BASED PROCESSES FOR THE CONVERSION OF FATS, OILS AND DERIVATIVES INTO BIOPOLYMERS AND BIOSURFACTANTS

Author
item Solaiman, Daniel
item Ashby, Richard - Rick
item Foglia, Thomas
item Nunez, Alberto
item Marmer, William

Submitted to: Proceedings of Japan United States Workshop in Plant Molecular Biology
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/20/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: Solaiman, D., Ashby, R.D., Foglia, T.A., Nunez, A., Marmer, W.N. 2003. Fermentation-based processes for the conversion of fats, oils and derivatives into biopolymers and biosurfactants. In: Proceedings of the United States-Japan Cooperative Program in Natural Resources (UJNR) Protein Resources Panel, November 9-11, 2003, Tsukuba, Japan. p. V1-V10.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Animal fats and oils, along with the coproducts and waste streams generated in their processing and utilization, are renewable feedstocks useful for the fermentative production of biobased products, such as biopolymers, biosurfactants and oleochemical intermediates. In this paper, we present an overview of our work on the genetic construction of recombinant microbes and the selective utilization of these feedstocks to manipulate the properties of biodegradable polyesters, i.e., poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA). In addition, this paper also presents our research on the utilization of renewable feedstocks for the production of sophorolipids (SLs), a class of biosurfactants synthesized by the yeast Candida bombicola. The research demonstrates the potential of utilizing fats, oils, and coproducts in the fermentative production of biobased products.