Biovalorisation of crude glycerol and xylose into xylitol by oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica Ashish Prabhu Craneld University Dominic J Thomas Craneld University Rodrigo Ledesma- Amaro Imperial College London Gary A Leeke University of Birmingham Angel Medina Vaya Craneld University Carol Verheecke-Vaessen Craneld University Frederic Coulon Craneld University Vinod Kumar (
[email protected] ) Craneld University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8967-6119 Research Keywords: Glycerol, Xylose, Yarrowia lipolytica, Biotransformation, Xylitol Posted Date: March 26th, 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-19009/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Version of Record: A version of this preprint was published at Microbial Cell Factories on June 3rd, 2020. See the published version at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12934-020-01378-1. Page 1/28 Abstract Background: Xylitol is a commercially important chemical with multiple applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. According to the US Department of Energy, xylitol is among the twelve platform chemicals that can be produced from biomass. The chemical method for xylitol synthesis is however expensive and energy intensive. In contrast, the biological route involving microbial cell factories offers a potential cost-effective alternative process. The bioprocess occurs under ambient conditions and makes use of biocatalysts which can be sourced from renewable carbon coming from a variety of cheap feedstocks classied as wastes. Result: In this study, biotransformation of xylose to xylitol was investigated using Yarrowia lipolytica an oleaginous yeast grown on glycerol/glucose screening of primary carbon source, media optimisation in shake ask, scale up in bioreactor and downstream processing of xylitol were carried out.