Production of oil in microorganisms

摘要

The invention provides a method of producing a fuel or a chemical, the method comprising the steps of heterotrophically culturing an oleaginous yeast in the presence of a fixed carbon source, wherein the fixed carbon source is selected from the group consisting of glycerol, depolymerized cellulosic material, sucrose, molasses, glucose, arabinose, galactose, xylose, fructose, mannose, and acetate; and wherein the oleaginous yeast accumulates at least 10% of its dry cell weight as lipid, followed by isolation of the lipid from the oleaginous yeast. The isolated lipid is then subjected to a chemical reaction selected from the group consisting of cracking, hydrotreating, hydroprocessing, indirect liquefaction, hydrodeoxygenation, transesterification, and isomerization, and optionally, distillation.