Biodiesel, an environmental-friendly and renewable fuel, has gained market share and popularity as an alternative to fossil fuel. While expanding its production globally to meet the demand, the production of its principal co-product, crude glycerol which is surplus and under utilised, has affected both the economic and environment. Crude glycerol has limited usage due to the impurities present. It cannot be disposed naturally in the environment and its storage and processing are very costly.

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... cerol with its triglyceride backbone serves as a natural metabolite susceptible to microbial degradation into high value-added compounds. In this study, a novel 1,3-PD producing bacterial strain isolated from palm oil mill effluent was used in microbial fermentation of crude glycerol. The strain, identified as Kluyvera cryocrescens NBRC 102467 based on its 16S rRNA sequences, was capable of producing 1,3-PD (5.28 g litre -1 ) along with by-products, butanol (0.34 g litre -1 ) and acetone (0.31 g litre -1 ) after an optimum 48 hr of incubation at 30°C in agitated medium enriched with crude glycerol at 150 rpm. Interestingly, its productivity peaked at the 6 hr reaching 0.28 g litre -1 hr -1 and declined thereafter. In future, this strain has potential to be used in the bioprocess of interest.