Hot ethanol extraction of lipids from plant or animal materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10694759-B2
Application number	US-201214433577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2012
Priority date	Oct 4, 2012
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process for the production of a fat rich and a fat lean product from a plant or animal starting material, comprising the steps of:
i) providing a particulate fat containing starting material, ii) mixing the particulate fat containing starting material with ethanol of at least 90% w/w concentration, iii) heating the mixture, iv) subjecting the heated mixture to a hydrocyclone treatment to provide a fat reduced underflow stream and an overflow stream, v) recovering the fat lean product from the fat reduced underflow stream, vi) recovering the fat rich product from the overflow stream. The fat rich and the fat lean products are suited for use in human food or for animal feed products.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for producing two products from plant or animal starting material, one of the two products being relatively lipid rich compared to the other product so that the one product is a lipid rich product and the other product is a lipid lean product, the process comprising:
i) providing a particulate lipid containing starting material,
ii) mixing the particulate lipid containing starting material with ethanol of at least 90% w/w concentration to produce a mixture,
iii) heating the mixture to a temperature of at least 60° C. to produce a heated mixture in which lipid is solubilized in the ethanol,
iv) subjecting the heated mixture to a hydrocyclone treatment to extract lipid from the particulate lipid containing starting material using the ethanol as an extractant and provide an underflow stream with a reduced lipid content relative to the heated mixture and an overflow stream comprising a solution of lipid in ethanol, the heated mixture being at a temperature of at least 60° C. throughout the extraction of the lipid from the particulate lipid containing starting material using the ethanol as the extractant,
v) the subjecting the heated mixture to the hydrocyclone treatment comprising subjecting the heated mixture to sequential counter current processing in a plurality of hydrocyclones arranged one after another in a downstream direction so that the lipid reduced underflow stream of a first of the hydrocyclones is fed to a second of the hydrocyclones that is located downstream of the first hydrocyclone, the first hydrocyclone being upstream of the second hydrocyclone, and so that the overflow stream of one of the hydrocyclones is fed to an up-stream hydrocyclone;
vi) recovering the lipid lean product from the lipid reduced underflow stream of a last hydrocyclone of the plurality of hydrocyclones, and
vii) recovering the lipid rich product from the overflow stream of the first hydrocyclone.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the overflow stream of the first hydrocyclone stage is subjected to a clarifying separation to provide a clarified stream and a concentrated stream.

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein clarifying separation comprises a series of from 1 to 3 hydrocyclone stages, or the clarifying separation is accomplished using a centrifuge.

4. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising:
cooling the overflow stream of the first hydrocyclone stage to a temperature of 40° C. or below to form an ethanolic upper phase and a lower phase,
recovering the fat rich product from the lower phase, and
optionally recycling the ethanolic upper phase.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the heated mixture is subjected to hydrocyclone treatment in two or more hydrocyclones arranged in parallel or wherein each stage in a series of hydrocyclones comprises two or more hydrocyclones.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the number of hydrocyclone stages in the series is 3 or more.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a diameter of an upper part of the hydrocyclone is 25 mm or less.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the mean diameter of the particles of the particulate lipid containing starting material is from about 20 μm to about 300 μm.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a standard deviation Dv95 of a mean diameter of the particles of the particulate lipid containing starting material is 50% or less from the mean diameter of the particles.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the particulate lipid containing starting material has a water content below 3% w/w.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the temperature is at least 65° C.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the heated mixture of the particulate lipid containing starting material and ethanol is superheated above a boiling point of the mixture.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the ethanol concentration is at least 95% w/w.

14. The process according to claim 4 , wherein the ethanolic upper phase is dehydrated before the recycling of the ethanolic upper phase.

15. The process according to claim 1 further comprising reducing a water content of the particulate lipid containing starting material to below 3% w/w in the steps of:
a) mixing the particulate lipid containing starting material with 1 to 20 parts lipid to obtain a slurry,
b) heating the slurry to evaporate water and to obtain a water reduced slurry,
c) subjecting the water reduced slurry to a solid-liquid separation to provide the particulate lipid containing material having a water content below 3% w/w and a lipid fraction.

16. The process according to claim 15 , wherein step b) is performed as a multi-step process comprising subjecting the water reduced slurry to sequential heat treatments, where each subsequent heat treatment is performed at a lower temperature than a preceding heat treatment.

17. The process according to claim 15 , wherein the lipid is derived from the lipid rich product produced according to steps i)-vi).

18. The process according to claim 15 , wherein the lipid rich product is recovered from the lipid fraction.

19. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the lipid reduced underflow stream is subjected to centrifugation to produce the lipid lean product.

20. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the starting material is slaughterhouse by-products, dehydrated slaughterhouse by-products, fish by-products, oil seeds, or a press cake remains after extraction of oilseeds.

21. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the underflow stream and the overflow stream in each hydrocyclone are the only flows resulting from each hydrocyclone.

22. A process for producing two products from plant or animal starting material, one of the two products being relatively lipid rich compared to the other product so that the one product is a lipid rich product and the other product is a lipid lean product, the process comprising:
i) providing a particulate lipid containing plant or animal starting material;
ii) mixing the particulate lipid containing plant or animal starting material with ethanol of at least 90% w/w concentration to produce a mixture in which lipid is solubilized in the ethanol;
iii) subjecting the mixture to a hydrocyclone treatment to extract lipid from the particulate lipid containing starting material using the ethanol as an extractant to provide an underflow stream with a reduced lipid content relative to the mixture and an overflow stream comprising a solution of lipid in ethanol, the mixture being at a temperature of at least the boiling point of the ethanol throughout the extraction of the lipid from the particulate lipid containing starting material using the ethanol as the extractant;
iv) the subjecting the heated mixture to the hydrocyclone treatment comprising subjecting the heated mixture to sequential counter current processing in a plurality of hydrocyclones arranged one after another in a downstream direction so that the lipid reduced underflow stream of a first of the hydrocyclones is fed to a second of the hydrocyclones that is located downstream of the first hydrocyclone, the first hydrocyclone being upstream of the second hydrocyclone, and so that the overflow stream of one of the hydrocyclones is fed to an up-stream hydrocyclone
v) recovering the lipid lean product with the reduced lipid content from the underflow stream; and
vi) recovering the lipid rich product from

Assignees

• Alfa Laval Corp Ab

Inventors

• Linnet Lars

Classifications

• A23D9/02 Primary

  characterised by the production or working-up · CPC title

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title

• C11B1/102

  in counter-current; utilisation of an equipment wherein the material is conveyed by a screw · CPC title

• C11B1/04

  of vegetable raw material {(C11B1/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• C11B1/02

  Pretreatment · CPC title