CONCENTRATION AND PURIFICATION OF POLYUNSATURATED FATTY ACID ESTERS BY DISTILLATION-ENZYMATIC TRANSESTERIFICATION COUPLING

摘要

A process for producing highly concentrated preparations of polyunsaturated fatty acids and their esters from oils, especially fish oils, in which they occur mainly as their triglyceride esters. The process uses a combination of transesterification of the triglycerides with a lower alkyl alcohol or benzyl alcohol, molecular distillation and selective enzymatic transesterification with an alkoxy alcohol catalysed by lipases which desirably can be immobilized. The process permits the separation of the acids mixture usually encountered in the oils, and isolation of desired acids in high yields. Typical acids which can be obtained by means of this process are eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6).