Isolation of a biodegradable sterol-rich fraction from industrial wastes

Several industrial waste materials were screened for their sterol content. The possibility of using these industrial by-products as sterol sources for the microbiological production of 4-androsten-3,17-dione (AD) and 1,4-androsta-diene-3,17-dione (ADD) was investigated. Two methods of obtaining the sterol fraction from wastes were developed. Sterol-rich (96-98%) fractions were isolated in a yield above 70%, from a tall-oil effluent of a paper pulp industry and from edible-oil deodorizates. These fractions were subsequently used as a substrate for microbial degradation by a Mycobacterium sp. strain and proved to be easily converted to AD and ADD.