title: Utilization of microbial oil obtained from crude glycerol for the production of polyol and its subsequent conversion to polyurethane foams.
abstract: We have demonstrated possible use of microbial oil in biopolymer industries. Microbial oil was produced from biodiesel based crude glycerol and subsequently converted into polyol. Fermentation of crude glycerol in a batch bioreactor using Rhodosporidium toruloides ATCC 10788 produced 18.69g/L of lipid at the end of 7days. The microbial oil was then chemically converted to polyol and characterized using FT-IR and1H NMR. For comparison, canola oil and palm oil were also converted into their respective polyols. The hydroxyl numbers of polyols from canola, palm and microbial oil were found to be 266.86, 222.32 and 230.30 (mgKOH/g of sample) respectively. All the polyols were further converted into rigid and semi-rigid polyurethanes (maintaining the molar -NCO/-OH ratio of 1.1) to examine their suitability in polymer applications. Conversion of microbial lipid to polyurethane foam also provides a new route for the production of polymers using biodiesel based crude glycerol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Bijaya K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Uprety
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Jayanth Venkatarama
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Material Sciences, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sai Swaroop
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Dalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: srakshit@lakeheadu.ca.
authors.forename: Sudip K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Rakshit
mesh_terms: D001487:Basidiomycota; D056804:Biofuels; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry*; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D011140:Polyurethanes / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008055:Lipids; D011140:Polyurethanes; D005990:Glycerol
keywords: Batch fermentation; Bio-based polyols; Crude glycerol; Microbial oil; Polyurethane