Since all yeasts could grow and produce high amount of lipid
only when they were cultivated on the palm oil mill effluent
(Fig. 2a), their lipids were further analyzed for the fatty acid composition
(Table 2). The results showed that all strains accumulated
mainly long-chain fatty acids with 16 and 18 carbon atoms. The
predominant fatty acids in all strains were palmitic acid (C16:0)
and oleic acid (C18:1) that accounted for over 75% of total lipid.
The similar fatty acid composition to that of plant oil indicates
their potential use as biodiesel feedstocks. It should be noted that
the fatty acid distribution in all strains were similar except that in
TISTR 5212. The lipid from TISTR 5212 composed of mostly oleic
acid (42.2%) followed by palmitic acid (34.7%) while those from
other strains composed of mostly palmitic acid (42–46%) followed
by oleic acid (36–39%).