Factors affecting glycerol production byPichia farinosa under alkaline conditions

Glycerol is an important and valuable chemical that can be produced from renewable resources by fermentation. The desirable features of a successful process are high values of substrate conversions and high yields and concentrations of glycerol in the product broth, coupled with rapid fermentation cycles. Of the various osmophilic and nonosmophilic yeasts tested for their ability to produce glycerol in the presence and absence of steering agents (sodium sulfite or sodium carbonate), an osmophilic yeastPichia farinosa (ATCC 20210) was found to give attractive yields. Important variables influencing glycerol production by this strain under alkaline conditions using sodium carbonate have been investigated. A rapid fermentation (less than 120 h), coupled with high glycerol yields (45%), has been obtained.