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US 6,846,942 B2Granted
Method for preparing pure EPA and pure DHA
OwnerDavid Rubininventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Pure DHA and pure EPA can be obtained from a mixture of EPA and DHA in a solution by forming salts of DHA and EPA which have different solubilities in the solvent, cooling the solution until the salt of EPA is formed, filtering the solution to recover the salt of EPA, and acidifying the EPA salt and the DHA salt to obtain pure EPA and pure DHA.
Claims9
A method for separating free EPA from a mixture of EPA and DHA comprising:
- a. dissolving the mixture of EPA and DHA in a solvent and adding a salt of a metal ion that produces salts of EPA and DHA which have different solubilities in the solvent;
- b. cooling the solution obtained in step (a) to precipitate the salt of EPA from solution;
- c. filtering the solution to remove the EPA salt;
- and
- d. acidifying the precipitate obtained from filtering the solution to produce pure EPA.
2 more elements
A method for obtaining substantially pure EPA and DHA from a naturally occurring fat or oil comprising:
- a. subjecting the natural fat or oil to saponification or alcoholysis to convert triglycerides to free fatty acids;
- b. removing unsaponified materials with an organic nonpolar solvent;
- c. add an acid to the nonpolar solvent solution to form free fatty acids;
- d. dissolve the solution in acetone and refrigerate the solution to precipitate saturated fatty acids;
- e. add a base to the solution;
- f. evaporate the acetone to produce a solution of ω-3 fatty acids;
- g. adding a salt which forms salts with ω-3 fatty acids which have differing solubilities in acetone;
- h. refrigerating the solution to case the EPA salt to precipitate;
- i. acidify the solution to obtain free DHA;
- j. acidifying the EPA salt to produce free EPA.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.