Method for obtaining a lipid-containing composition from microbial biomass

摘要

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.

主权项

1. 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.