Enzymatic removal of steryl glycosides in fatty acid alkyl esters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9340752-B2
Application number	US-201013254012-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2010
Priority date	Mar 9, 2009
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to a process of reducing the content of steryl glycoside in a bio-diesel composition which comprises a step of contacting the composition with an enzyme being capable of acylating the steryl glycoside.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process of reducing the content of steryl glycosides in a biodiesel composition comprising
providing a biodiesel composition comprising steryl glycoside and fatty acid alkyl ester, wherein at least 80 weight % of fatty acids in the composition are in the form of fatty acid alkyl ester, and
contacting the biodiesel composition with an enzyme capable of acylating the steryl glycoside to provide an enzyme treated composition having a reduced content of steryl glycoside, wherein the fatty acid alkyl ester is acyl donor to acylate steryl glycoside to soluble acylated steryl glycoside,
wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the composition prior to contacting it with the enzyme is at least 30 ppm.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the steryl glycoside is derived from a sterol selected from a group consisting of: a phytosterol, a zoosterol, the corresponding saturated forms of said sterol (stanol); and any combinations thereof.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sterol is campesterol, sitosterol, stigmasterol, avenasterol, brassicasterol, desmosterol, fucosterol, sargasterol, or cholesterol.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the enzyme treated composition is below 24 ppm.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein at least 80 weight % of fatty acids in the composition are in the form of fatty acid alkyl ester selected from a group consisting of: fatty acid methyl ester; fatty acid ethyl ester; fatty acid propyl ester; fatty acid butyl ester and fatty acid pentyl ester; or any combination thereof.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is a lipase classified as EC 3.1.1.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is a lipase classified as EC 3.1.1.3.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is selected from the group consisting of: Aspergillus lipase; Aspergillus niger lipase; Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase; Candida antarctica lipase A; Candida antarctica lipase B; Candida cylindracae lipase; Candida deformans lipase; Candida lipolytica lipase; Candida parapsilosis lipase; Candida rugosa lipase; Corynebacterium acnes lipase; Cryptococcus spp. S-2 lipase; Fusarium culmorum lipase; Fusarium heterosporum lipase; Fusarium oxysporum lipase; Mucor javanicus lipase; Rhizomucor miehei lipase; Rhizomucor delemar lipase; Burkholderia ( Pseudomonas ) cepacia lipase; Pseudomonas camembertii lipase; Pseudomonas fluorescens lipase; Rhizopus lipase; Rhizopus arrhizus lipase; Staphylococcus aureus lipase; Geotrichium candidum lipase; Hyphozyma sp. lipase; Klebsiella oxytoca lipase; and variants thereof.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is a Candida antarctica lipase B or a variant thereof.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the enzyme is immobilized covalently or non-covalently immobilized on a carrier or by entrapment in a natural or synthetic matrix.

11. The process of claim 10 , wherein the enzyme is immobilized on a hydrophilic carrier selected from the group consisting of: porous in-organic particles composed of alumina, silica, silicates, zeolites, diatomaceous earth, bentonite, vermiculite, hydrotalcite; and porous organic particles composed of carbohydrate polymers.

12. The process of claim 10 , wherein the enzyme is immobilized on a hydrophobic carrier containing at least one material selected from the group consisting of: synthetic polymers; hydrophobic silica; and activated carbon.

13. The process of claim 1 , wherein the composition further comprises petroleum-based diesel fuel.

14. The process of claim 1 , further comprising mixing the enzyme treated composition with petroleum-based diesel fuel.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the composition prior to contacting it with the enzyme is at least 50 ppm.

16. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the composition prior to contacting it with the enzyme is at least 80 ppm.

17. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the composition prior to contacting it with the enzyme is at least 100 ppm.

18. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the composition prior to contacting it with the enzyme is at least 150 ppm.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the enzyme treated composition is below 20 ppm.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of steryl glycoside in the enzyme treated composition is below 15 ppm.

Assignees

• Brask Jesper
• Nielsen Per Munk
• Novozymes As

Inventors

• Brask Jesper
• Nielsen Per Munk

Classifications

• C10L2200/0476

  Biodiesel, i.e. defined lower alkyl esters of fatty acids first generation biodiesel · CPC title

• C10L1/165

  from compounds containing aromatic monomers · CPC title

• C11C3/003

  by esterification of fatty acids with alcohols (C11C3/02 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C11C1/08 Primary

  Refining · CPC title

• C10L1/1963

  mono-carboxylic · CPC title