Waste spent yeast from brewery industry was used as a sole growth substrate to grow an oleaginous yeast Cryptococcus curvatus for the purpose of biodiesel production. Approximately 7 g/l/d of biomass productivity was obtained using only spent yeast (30 g/l) without additional nutrients and pretreatment of any kind. To make best use of available nutrients in the spent yeast, stepwise cultivation was carried out in a batch culture mode and the highest biomass and lipid content, which were 50.4 g/l and 37.7%, respectively, were obtained at 35:1 of C/N ratio. Lipid from C. curvatus was found to be a quality-sufficient source of oil as a transportation fuel in terms of cetane, iodine values, and oxidation stability, although the values of cold filter plugging point were less desirable. Economic evaluation revealed that the use of the spent yeast could significantly reduce the unit cost of yeast-based biodiesel production. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.