Journal of Functional Foods (Mar 2016)

Preparation of high purity docosahexaenoic acid from microalgae oil in a packed bed reactor via two-step lipase-catalysed esterification

  • Eun-Ju Lee,
  • Moon Won Lee,
  • Da Som No,
  • Hee-Jin Kim,
  • Se-Wook Oh,
  • Yangha Kim,
  • In-Hwan Kim

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21
pp. 330 – 337

Abstract

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Highly pure docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was produced successfully in a packed bed reactor via the two-step lipase-catalysed esterification using the fatty acid from microalgae (from Crypthecodinium cohnii) and ethanol as substrates. Lipozyme RM IM from Rhizomucor miehei was employed as a biocatalyst. In the first step, a temperature of 40 °C, a molar ratio of 1:4 (fatty acid to ethanol), and a water content of 0.6 wt% (based on the total substrate weight) were selected as optimum conditions. A maximum DHA concentration of ca. 90 wt% was achieved in the fatty acid fraction with an 89 wt% yield after 15 min. In the second step, the fatty acids from the first step were used as the substrate and a recursive reaction was conducted using identical optimized conditions. Following this second step, a DHA concentration of 100 wt% was achieved in conjunction with an 83.2 wt% yield after 25 min.

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