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US 8,999,663 B2Granted
Method for obtaining a lipid-containing composition from microbial biomass
AssigneeE l du Pont de Nemours and Company
InventorsMarios Avgousti, Timothy Allan Bell, Richard E. Bockrath, Oliver Walter Gutsche, Keith W. Hutchenson, Shu-Chien Liang, Robert D. Orlandi
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Abstract
Methods are provided for pelletizing a microbial biomass, extracting a refined lipid composition from the pelletized biomass under supercritical conditions and distilling the refined lipid composition, at least once under short path distillation conditions, to obtain a lipid-containing fraction. Also disclosed are methods of making lipid-containing oil concentrates therefrom, by transesterifying and enriching the lipid-containing fraction.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- (a) pelletizing a microbial biomass having a moisture level and comprising oil-containing microbes, wherein said pelletizing comprises:
- (1) mixing the microbial biomass and at least one grinding agent capable of absorbing oil to provide a disrupted biomass mix;
- (2) blending the disrupted biomass mix with at least one binding agent to provide a fixable mix capable of forming a solid pellet;
- and
- (3) forming said fixable mix into solid pellets to provide a pelletized microbial biomass;
- (b) extracting the pelletized microbial biomass of step (a) to produce an extracted oil;
- and
- (c) distilling the extracted oil of step (b) at least once under short path distillation conditions, wherein said distillation produces a distillate fraction and a lipid-containing fraction.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- (a) pelletizing a microbial biomass having a moisture level and comprising oil-containing microbes, thereby providing a pelletized microbial biomass;
- (b) extracting the pelletized microbial biomass of step (a) to produce an extracted oil;
- (c) distilling the extracted oil of step (b) at least once under short path distillation conditions, wherein said distillation produces a distillate fraction and a lipid-containing fraction;
- (d) transesterifying the lipid-containing fraction of step (c), thereby providing a transesterified lipid-containing fraction;
- and
- (e) enriching the transesterified lipid-containing fraction of step (d) to obtain an oil concentrate;
- wherein:
- (i) the oil-containing microbes accumulate in excess of 25% of their dry cell weight as microbial oil;
- (ii) said microbial oil comprises 30 to 70 weight percent of eicosapentaenoic acid, measured as a weight percent of total fatty acids, and is substantially free of docosahexaenoic acid;
- (iii) the enriching of step (e) is by a combination of at least first and second processes, said first process comprising fractional distillation, and said second process is selected from the group consisting of:
- urea adduct formation, liquid chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, simulated moving bed chromatography, actual moving bed chromatography, and combinations thereof;
- and
- (iv) the oil concentrate is an eicosapentaenoic acid concentrate comprising at least 70 weight percent of eicosapentaenoic acid, measured as a weight percent of oil, and is substantially free of docosahexaenoic acid.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.