Could a Winemaker's Yeast Replace Palm Oil?

In case you weren't already aware, palm oil is as ubiquitous as herpes. The low-cost, highly versatile lipid is found in just about everything: from lipstick and shampoo to instant noodles and Dunkin Donuts' beloved Boston Kreme.

It's the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet, but also the number one reason why we're all guilty of orangutan murder. Oil palm plantations have led to the widespread destruction of tropical rainforests, as well as the habitats for these gentle primates (and elephants, tigers, and rhinos, too).

As such, palm oil is no stranger to controversy, and you can hardly call yourself a conscientious consumer without at least flirting with the possibility of joining the palm oil boycott movement.

As Helen Nianias pointed out in September, however, those boycotts might do more harm than good; higher sustainability standards are the focus of activists nowadays, because boycotts end up hurting the workers who depend on oil palms for their livelihoods.

Still, the road to sustainability shouldn't preclude the search for alternatives. Researchers from the University of Bath have developed a method for turning a type of yeast used in wine production into a source of oil that has similar properties to that of the oil palm.

Many commercial winemakers utilize some form of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the sugar-eating and alcohol-spewing yeast that makes booze and baking possible. But there are also naturally occurring, non-Saccharomyces species of yeast used in winemaking to varying effect. The University of Bath researchers settled on the relatively obscure Metschnikowia pulcherrima, often found in South Africa, which can also produce a not-insignificant amount of oil. (As Motherboard's Jason Koebler pointed out last year, M. pulcherrima could also help stave off some of the effects of global warming on grapes, which tend to produce more sugar and thus more alcohol in warmer climates.)

According to a recent report by The Guardian, M. pulcherrima isn't picky when it comes to its meals, equally thriving on rapeseed, straw, and food waste to produce its precious oil. As a bonus, the waste from the production of the oil could potentially be turned back into feedstock, too.

And for conservationists, the benefits are clear. Dr. Chris Chuck, one of the project's lead researchers, told the Guardian that the land use involved could be anywhere between ten and 100 times less than that of palm oil.

At this point, the main problem is cost. In order to compete with palm oil, the yeast-produced oil would have to range between $800 and $900 per metric ton. While the researchers haven't yet scaled up production to marketable levels—their next test should produce between 30 and 50 liters, and they hope to produce 10,000 liters by year's end—a similar yeast-derived oil-production method was estimated at about $1,200 per metric ton.

In the meantime, your Boston Kremes will stay exactly as they are.