POTENSI MINYAK MIKROALGA DAN KHAMIR SEBAGAI SUMBER ASAM LEMAK ESENSIAL

Abstract

Edible oils as essential fatty acids sources, such as linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and
docosahexaenoic acid, are commonly extracted from plants and seafoods, particularly fish. The productionof fish
oil has several drawbacks, including overfishing issues, mercury contamination, and unpleasant smell of fish. Oil
production from plants requires extensive land used, long harvest time, and high operational costs. Single-cell oils
from microorganisms are the solution to overcome these problems. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the
potential of microorganisms, i.e. microalga and yeast, which had previously been isolated from mangrove forests
in Aceh Province, Indonesia, as sources of essential fatty acids. Two types of microorganisms used were
Thraustochytrium multirudimentale and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. The results showed that the highest amount
of oil was extracted from yeast (17.04 ± 0.78 mg/g), while microoalga produced 4.50 ± 0.49 mg/g only. Based on
correlation analysis, the optical density (OD) and biomass, had good correlation with r = 0.990. The spectra of
FT-IR analysis from microalga and yeast oils proved that both contained C=O groups which identified as esters
of fatty acids and C=C groups identified as unsaturated fatty acids. Thraustochytrium multirudimentale and
Rhodotorula mucilaginosa are potential as single-cell oil sources containing essential fatty acids.
Keywords: essential oil, fatty acids, microalgae, omega-3, single-cell oil, yeast