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BACKGROUND: Vegetable oil is more difficult for microorganisms to degrade compared with carbohydrates and protein. Oil‐rich waste creates serious environmental and health concerns if it remains untreated. The aim of the work reported here was to evaluate the effects on the nutritional composition of filamentous fungal biomass by growing it in pure olive oil as a carbon source. RESULTS: The growth of different filamentous fungal strains (Aspergillus oryzae, Neurospora intermedia and Rhizopus oryzae) was investigated in pure olive oil. A pre‐germination stage of either glucose or yeast extract was necessary for successful fungal growth in olive oil. A. oryzae showed superior performance in comparison with N. intermedia and R. oryzae in terms of biomass growth. The obtained biomass from A. oryzae and N. intermedia was analyzed for protein, fat, ash and alkali‐insoluble material, where the presence of olive oil had a steering effect on biomass growth (16 g L−1 with oil versus 4 g L−1 without oil). Nutritional composition of the fungal biomass of A. oryzae contained 0.33% fat and 48% protein when cultivated in medium without olive oil supplementation, while 31% fat and 14% protein contents were observed in the presence of olive oil‐containing medium. Similar trends for fat and protein contents were observed for the biomass of N. intermedia. Moreover, microscopy confirmed the presence of oil globules inside the fungal cells. CONCLUSIONS: Fat composition of fungal biomass can be steered through addition of olive oil, which increases the versatility of the produced biomass for various applications, namely in feed, food and biofuel production. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry (SCI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olive oil mills represent an important sector in the Mediterranean Sea Basin but also an environmental hazard due to untreated wastewater. Recovery of nutrients from olive oil mill wastewater (OMWW) as protein-rich microbial biomass can produce novel feed and reduce its chemical oxygen demand; however, low-protein containing products have been reported. New strategies leading to higher protein-containing fungal biomass could renew the research interest on bioconversion for pollution mitigation of OMWW. In this work, through cultivation of edible filamentous fungi (Aspergillus oryzae, Neurospora intermedia, and Rhizopus delemar), a link between the protein content in the originated fungal biomass, and the addition of nitrogen and medium dilution was established. Addition of nitrogen in the form of NaNO3 reduced the cultivation time from 96 h to 48 h while achieving a similar biomass mass concentration of 8.43 g/L and increased biomass protein content, from w = 15.9% to w = 29.5%. Nitrogen addition and dilution of OMWW, and consequent reduction of suspended solids, led to an increase in the protein content to up to w = 44.9%. To the best of our knowledge, the protein contents achieved are the highest reported to date and can open new research avenues towards bioconversion of OMWW using edible filamentous fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]