Lipid extraction processes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10456412-B2
Application number	US-201615040330-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2016
Priority date	Feb 11, 2015
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

The present invention provides improved processes for extracting and preparing lipids from biological sources for use in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and functional foods.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A high-efficiency process for extracting lipids from a krill biomass comprising:
mixing said krill biomass with a protic solvent having a concentration of from 90% to 97% at a temperature of from about 5° C. to about 65° C. to provide a solvent and krill biomass mixture, wherein said krill biomass is selected from the group consisting of cooked krill meals and krill hydrolysate meals,
separating a crude lipid solution from the solvent and krill biomass mixture, wherein about 70 to 90% w/w of the total available lipids in the krill biomass are extracted;
desalting said crude lipid solution;
fractionating said desalted crude lipid solution by adjusting the dry matter content of said crude lipid solution to from about 10% to 40% while maintaining the concentration of the protic solvent at from about 65% to 98% and holding said solution at about 0° C. to about 20° C. so that phospholipids in said solution partition into a light phase and neutral lipids in said solution partition into a heavy phase; and
separating said heavy and light phases.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said krill biomass is selected from the group consisting of krill meal, krill coagulum and fresh frozen krill.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said krill meal is selected from the group consisting of cooked krill meals and krill hydrolysate meals.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said cooked krill meal has a moisture content of from about 5% to 8% and is from about 12% to 24% w/w lipids.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said heavy and light phases are separated by centrifugation.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said centrifugation step uses a cryocentrifuge.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of said protic solvent during said fractionating step is from about 92% to about 98% w/w.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of said protic solvent during said fractionating step is from about 80% to about 90% w/w.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of removing said solvent from said light phase to provide a concentrated phospholipid composition comprising from about 50% to about 85% w/w phospholipids and wherein the composition has one or more of the following properties:
a triglyceride content of from about 5% to 35% w/w;
a free fatty acid content of from about 4% w/w to about 11% w/w;
a lysophospholipid content of from about 0.8% w/w to about 7.0% w/w;
an inorganic salt content of less than about 0.2% w/w;
a nitrogen content of less than about 2 mg N/100 g;
a copper content of less than about 2 ppm;
an arsenic content of less than about 3 ppm;
an ethyl ester content of less than about 1% w/w;
a viscosity of from about 500 to 1800 mPas at 35° C.; and
an astaxanthin ester content of less than about 100 ppm.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of removing said solvent from said heavy phase to provide a concentrated neutral lipid composition comprising from about 80% to about 95% w/w neutral lipids and wherein the composition has one or more of the following properties:
a phospholipid content of from about 4% to 15% w/w;
a free fatty acid content of from about 1% w/w to about 8% w/w;
a lysophospholipid content of from about 0.1% w/w to about 2.0% w/w;
an inorganic salt content of less than about 0.2% w/w;
a nitrogen content of less than about 2 mg N/100 g;
a copper content of less than about 2 ppm;
an arsenic content of less than about 3 ppm;
an ethyl ester content of less than about 1% w/w;
a viscosity of less than about 400 mPas at 25° C.; and
an astaxanthin ester content of greater than about 300 ppm.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein said concentrated neutral lipid composition comprises from about 300 to 1200 ppm astaxanthin esters.

Assignees

• Aker Biomarine Antarctic As

Inventors

• Saebo Asgeir
• Myhren Finn
• Hoem Nils

Classifications

• A23K10/20

  from material of animal origin (obtained by microbiological or biochemical processes A23K10/10) · CPC title

• A23L33/115

  Fatty acids or derivatives thereof; Fats or oils · CPC title

• A61K31/23

  of acids having a carboxyl group bound to a chain of seven or more carbon atoms · CPC title

• A23J7/00 Primary

  Phosphatide compositions for foodstuffs, e.g. lecithin · CPC title

• A61K35/612

  Crustaceans, e.g. crabs, lobsters, shrimps, krill or crayfish; Barnacles · CPC title