Process for preparing materials for extraction
AssigneeMartek Biosciences Corporation
InventorsJaouad Fichtali, Anand Sundararajan
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a process for preparing a biomass, such as from a microbial fermentation, for an extraction process to separate desired chemicals, nutritional products, bioactive components, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, from the biomass. Particularly preferred substances to extract include docosahexaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, and arachidonic acid. The present invention also includes extracting the prepared biomass. Biomasses to be treated in accordance with the methods of the invention include plant, animal, and microbial biomass, particularly a microorganism such as Crypthecodinium cohnii and a fungus such as Mortierella alpina.
Claims41
A method for extracting a lipid from a microbial biomass, comprising:
- (a) preparing the microbial biomass by a process, comprising:
- (i) freezing the microbial biomass at or below its brittleness temperature to produce a frozen microbial biomass;
- (ii) comminuting the frozen microbial biomass at a temperature no higher than the brittleness temperature to produce a comminuted biomass;
- (iii) thawing the comminuted biomass to at least a temperature at which the comminuted biomass is deformable;
- (iv) adding an effective amount of a dry agent to the thawed comminuted biomass to achieve an extrudable consistency;
- (v) extruding the comminuted biomass from step (iv) to produce an extruded biomass;
- and
- (b) percolation extracting the lipid from the extruded biomass.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.