Effect of Homogenization as Pretreatment for the Improvement of Autolysis Efficiency of Kluyveromyces fragilis

A yeast autolysis modified process consisting of a previous homogenization step at 52 MPa ( N= 2) with pH adjustment at 9.5 is developed. The process carried out in 16 h reached a total biomass solubilization around 85%. Autolysis course was not affected by yeast concentration in the studied range (60–140 mg/mL). Initial NaCl concentration of 1% led to a reduced content of this salt in final extract of about 7%, under optimum conditions, in good agreement with current requirements of the food industry. The high levels of biomass solubilization in this process allowed a yield increase of extract from 0.13 kg per liter of yeast suspension (150 mg/mL) in untreated cells to 0.15 kg/L in homogenized cells.