a b s t r a c t
The red yeast Sporobolomyces ruberrimus H110 was able to use glycerol as a carbon source. The highest
concentration (0.51 g L1) and productivity (0.0064 g L1 h1) of carotenoids were achieved when raw
glycerol from biodiesel production, containing around 1 g L1 of fatty acids, was used as the carbon
source, which represented increases of 27% and 1.5, respectively, in relation to pure glycerol. Mass spectrometry
analysis led to the identification of four carotenoids in the fermented samples, torularhodin,
torulene, b-carotene and c-carotene. The use of raw glycerol also enhanced the proportion of torularhodin
(69% against 59% in pure glycerol). The addition of individual fatty acids (palmitic, stearic, oleic
and linoleic acids) to pure glycerol resulted in increases between 15% and 25% in maximum concentration
and between 1.6 and 2.0 in productivity of carotenoids. The presence of palmitic and oleic acids
increased the torularhodin proportion to 66%.