Sustainable production of nutritional iron-enriched yeast from low-cost bran sources: A valuable feedstock for circular economy

Enhancing iron bioavailability through iron-enriched yeast offers a promising nutritional solution. This study explores the sustainable production of iron-enriched yeast using soybean, corn, and wheat bran hydrolysates as low-cost culture media in submerged fermentation. Culture mediums were supplemented with 15 mg L⁻¹ of Fe⁺². Iron-yeast production was successful using starchy hydrolysates due to their rich composition. Soybean bran hydrolysate achieved the highest biomass production (7.9 g L⁻¹ dry cell), corn bran hydrolysate accomplished the largest iron incorporation (3.18 mg of iron/gram of dry cell); while supplemented wheat hydrolysate attained the greatest yield (2.58 ± 0.68 g/g). This research showed high potential on the production of iron-enriched yeast biomass from starchy hydrolysates, and the potential production of health and food products through sustainable production methods.