Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus) Milk Byproduct and Corn Steep Liquor for Biosurfactant production by Yarrowia lipolytica

The use of agroindustrial wastes for biosurfactant production is advantageous since the raw material represents a great part of the costs to obtain this bio-product. Low cost raw materials (Tiger nut fibre – TNF and corn steep liquor – CSL) were evaluated as potential carbon and nitrogen sources for biosurfactant production by Yarrowia lipolytica IMUFRJ 50682. It was demonstrated that it is possible to produce biosurfactant using corn steep liquor or tiger nut fiber in medium containing ammonium sulfate, with emulsification indexes (EI) around 40% for each residue. The culture medium containing ammonium sulfate, corn steep liquor and tiger nut fiber presented the same EI (60%) as the medium containing glucose, yeast extract, glycerol and ammonium sulfate (Control medium). This is the first report of the use of tiger nut by-product for biosurfactant production. It was estimated that the cost for ammonium sulfate, corn steep liquor and tiger nut fiber medium is one third the cost of control medium.