Fed‐batch hydrocarbon fermentation with colloidal emulsion feed

Candida tropicalis was cultured with n‐hexadecane, dispersed in water as submicron droplets, as the only carbon substrate; the emulsion being fed continuously into a fermentor containing only an aqueous medium (fed‐batch culture). The results have demonstrated that the organism takes up hydrocarbon accommodated in the aqueous phase as submicron droplets. The cell/substrate yield for the linear growth phase, where growth was limited by the supply of the substrate, was much higher than the yield for the exponential growth phase.