METHOD FOR PRODUCING HIGH PURITY OMEGA-3 FATTY ACID ETHYL ESTER

摘要

The present invention relates to the field of methods for purifying fatty acid ethyl esters. According to the present invention, a method for obtaining a ω3 fatty acid ethyl ester, such as EPA and DHA, each as a high purity product at a high yield is provided. In the method according to the present invention, a raw material fat including EPA and DHA is treated with a lipolytic enzyme and ethyl-esterification is performed as needed; the treated substance is fractionated into a glyceride fraction and a free fatty acid fraction; a fraction comprising more EPA ester and a fraction comprising DHA ester are obtained from the respective fractions; the fraction comprising more EPA ester is purified to prepare a high-purity EPA ester; and the fraction comprising more DHA ester is purified to prepare a high-purity DHA ester.

主权项

1. A method for preparing an eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester and a docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester from a raw material fat comprising eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) treating the raw material fat with a lipolytic enzyme to obtain a treated substance; (b) fractionating the treated substance of step (a) to obtain one or a plurality of fractions wherein at least one fraction comprises either or both of glycerides and free fatty acids; (c) ethyl-esterifying at least one fraction obtained in step (b) as needed to obtain an ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction and an ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction; (d) purifying and fractionating the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction into:
(1) a first fraction of the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction comprising more docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction prior to the step (d) of purifying and comprising less eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction prior to the step (d) of purifying; and(2) a second fraction of the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction comprising more eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction prior to the step (d) of purifying and comprising less docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified glyceride fraction prior to the step (d) of purifying; (e) purifying and fractionating the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction into:
(3) a first fraction of the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction comprising more docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction prior to the step (e) of purifying and comprising less eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction prior to the step (e) of purifying; and(4) a second fraction of the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction comprising more eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction prior to the step (e) of purifying and comprising less docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester than the ethyl-esterified free fatty acid fraction prior to the step (e) of purifying; (f) mixing the fraction (1) of step (d) with the fraction (3) of step (e) to obtain a first mixture; (g) mixing the fraction (2) of step (d) with the fraction (4) of step (e) to obtain a second mixture; (h) further purifying the first mixture of step (f) to obtain a purified substance comprising a docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester; and (i) further purifying the second mixture of step (g) to obtain a purified substance comprising an eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester.