Process for decreasing environmental pollutants in an oil or a fat, a volatile environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid, a health supplement, and an animal feed product

• US 20050256326A1
• Filed: 06/08/2003
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pronova BioPharma Norge AS (BASF SE)
• Original Assignee: Pronova Biocare As (Andresen Family)
• Inventors: Thorstad, Olav, Breivik, Harald
• Granted Patent: US 7,732,488 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 554/175
• CPC Class Codes: A23D 9/00 Other edible oils or fats, e.g. shortenings, cooking oils
• CPC Class Codes: A23K 20/158 Fatty acids; Fats; Products containing oils or fats
• CPC Class Codes: A23K 50/80 for aquatic animals, e.g. fish, crustaceans or molluscs
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 33/115 Fatty acids or derivatives thereof; Fats or oils
• CPC Class Codes: A23V 2002/00 Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs
• CPC Class Codes: A23V 2200/3262 having an effect on blood cholesterol
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 13/12 of the kidneys
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 25/28 for treating neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, e.g. nootropic agents, cognition enhancers, drugs for treating Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 29/00 Non-central analgesic, antipyretic or antiinflammatory agents, e.g. antirheumatic agents; Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs [NSAID]
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 3/02 Nutrients, e.g. vitamins, minerals
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 3/06 Antihyperlipidemics
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 43/00 Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 9/00 Drugs for disorders of the cardiovascular system
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 9/10 for treating ischaemic or atherosclerotic diseases, e.g. antianginal drugs, coronary vasodilators, drugs for myocardial infarction, retinopathy, cerebrovascula insufficiency, renal arteriosclerosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61P 9/12 Antihypertensives
• CPC Class Codes: C11B 3/006 by extraction
• CPC Class Codes: C11B 3/12 by distillation
• CPC Class Codes: C11B 3/14 with the use of indifferent gases or vapours, e.g. steam
• CPC Class Codes: C11C 3/10 Ester interchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/818 Alternative feeds for fish, e.g. in aquacultures

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for decreasing the amount of environmental pollutants in a mixture comprising a fat or an oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, the fat or oil containing the environmental pollutants, which process comprises the steps of adding a volatile working fluid to the mixture, where the volatile working fluid comprises at least one of a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid amide, a free fatty acid and a hydro-carbon, and subjecting the mixture with the added volatile working fluid to at least one stripping processing step, in which an amount of environmental pollutant pre-sent in the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, is separated from the mixture together with the volatile working fluid. The present invention also relates to a volatile environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid, for use in decreasing an amount of environmental pollutants present in a fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics. In addition, the present invention relates to a health supplement, a pharmaceutical and an animal feed product prepared according to the process mentioned above.

Claims

1. A process for decreasing the amount of environmental pollutants in a mixture comprising a fat or an oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, the fat or oil containing the environmental pollutants,

characterized in that the process comprises the steps of;

adding a volatile working fluid to the mixture, where the volatile working fluid comprises at least one of a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid amide, a free fatty acid and a hydrocarbon, and

subjecting the mixture with the added volatile working fluid to at least one stripping processing step, in which an amount of environmental pollutant present in the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, is separated from the mixture together with the volatile working fluid.

2. A process according to claim 1, wherein the volatile working fluid is essentially equally or less volatile than the environmental pollutants that are to be separated from the fat or oil mixture.

3. A process according to claim 1, wherein the volatile working fluid is constituted by free fatty acids comprised in the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, containing the environmental pollutants.

4. A process according to claim 1, wherein the at least one of a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid amide and a free fatty acid is obtained from at least one of vegetable, microbial and animal fat or oil.

5. A process according to claim 4, wherein the animal fat or oil is a fish oil and/or an oil obtained from sea mammals.

6. A process according to claim 1, wherein the volatile working fluid comprises at least one fatty acid ester composed of C10-C22 fatty acids and C1-C4 alcohols, or a combination of two or more fatty acid ester each composed of C10-C22 fatty acids and C1-C4 alcohols.

7. A process according to claim 1, wherein the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, is obtained from at least one of vegetable, microbial and animal fat or oil, or any combination thereof.

8. A process according to claim 7, wherein the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, is a marine oil.

9. A process according to claim 8, wherein the marine oil is obtained from fish or sea mammals, containing at least saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in the form of triglycerides.

10. A process according to claim 7, wherein the fat or oil is a ricinus oil for use in cosmetics or medicinal applications.

11. A process according to claim 7, wherein the fat or oil is a tocopherol concentrate prepared from a condensate from at least one deodorization process of at least one vegetable oil, wherein the tocopherol concentrate containing at least one of PAH and volatile pollutants, or any combination thereof.

12. A process according to claim 1, wherein the ratio of (volatile working fluid):

(fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics) is about 1;

100 to 15;

100.

13. A process according to claim 12, wherein the ratio of (volatile working fluid):

(fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics) is about 3;

100 to 8;

100.

14. A process according to claim 1, wherein said stripping processing step is carried out at temperatures in the interval of 120-270°

C.

15. A process according to claim 1, wherein said stripping processing step is carried out at temperatures in the interval of 150-200°

C.

16. A process according to claim 1, wherein said stripping processing step is carried out at a pressure below 1 mbar.

17. A process according to claim 1, wherein the at least one stripping processing step is one of a thin-film evaporation process, a molecular distillation or a short-path distillation or any combination thereof.

18. A process according to claim 17, wherein the at least one thin-film evaporation process is carried out at a mixture flow rate in the interval of 10-300 kg/h·

m².

24. A health supplement, containing at least a marine oil, which marine oil is prepared according to the process presented in claim 1, in order to decrease the amount of environmental pollutants in the marine oil.

25. A pharmaceutical, containing at least a fish oil, which fish oil is prepared according to the process presented in claim 1, in order to decrease the amount of environmental pollutants in the fish oil.

26. An animal feed product, containing at least a marine oil, which marine oil is prepared according to the process presented in claim 1, in order to decrease the amount of environmental pollutants respectively the amount of free fatty acids in the marine oil.

27. An animal feed product according to claim 26, wherein the feed product is a fish feed product.

28. A cosmetic product, based on ricinus oil, which ricinus oil is prepared according to the process presented in claim 1, in order to decrease the amount of environmental pollutants in the ricinus oil.

29. A marine oil product, prepared according to the process presented in claim 1.

30. A marine oil product according to claim 29, wherein the marine oil product is a fish oil product or a fish oil composition.

31. A tocopherol concentrate product, based on a tocopherol concentrate prepared from a condensate from a deodorization process of at least one vegetable fat or oil, such as palm oil or soy oil, which concentrate containing at least one of PAH and volatile pollutants and is prepared according to the process presented in claim 1, in order to decrease the amount of PAH and volatile pollutants in the tocopherol concentrate.

19. A volatile environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid, for use in decreasing an amount of environmental pollutants present in a fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, the working fluid comprising at least one of a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid amide, a free fatty acid and a hydrocarbon, or any combination thereof.

20. A volatile environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid according to claim 19, wherein said at least one of a fatty acid ester, a fatty acid amide, a free fatty acid is obtained from at least one of vegetable, microbial and animal origin, or any combination thereof.

21. A volatile fat or oil environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid according to claim 20, wherein the animal origin is fish or sea mammals.

22. Use of a volatile environmental decreasing working fluid according to claim 19, in a process for decreasing an amount of environmental pollutants, such as toxic component, in a mixture comprising a fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, preferably a marine oil, containing the toxic components, in which process the volatile working fluid is added to the mixture and then the mixture is subjected to at least one stripping processing step, preferably a thin-film evaporation process, a molecular distillation or a short-path distillation, or any combination thereof, and in which process an amount of toxic components present in the fat or oil, being edible or for use in cosmetics, is separated from the mixture together with the volatile working fluid.

23. A volatile environmental pollutants decreasing working fluid, wherein the volatile working fluid is a by-product, such as a distillate fraction, from a regular process for production of ethyl and/or methyl ester concentrates.