Patent ID: 9650590
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: C07C,C11B

Claim:
1. A continuous process for separating polar lipids from a desalted lipid rich stream derived from a krill oil extract stream, said desalted lipid rich stream comprising polar lipids, neutral lipids, trimethylamine oxide, salt, lyso-phosphatidylcholine and astaxanthin, wherein the desalted lipid rich stream is essentially free of trimethylamine oxide and salt, said process comprising: d) diluting the desalted lipid rich stream in a first solvent comprising ethanol and water to provide a diluted mixture, the first solvent having an ethanol:water ratio of between of about 95:5 to 99:1 to concentration of about 5 percent by weight of the diluted mixture; e) passing the diluted mixture to a fixed bed extraction zone containing a macroporous styrenic polymeric bead resin to adsorb neutral lipids and astaxanthin to provide a polar lipid extract stream; f) removing a first bed volume of the polar lipid extract stream to provide a polar lipid extract stream having less than or equal to 1 wt-% of lyso-phosphatidylcholine as determined by NMR analysis to provide a polar lipid extract stream comprising solvent and polar lipids and being essentially free of neutral lipids and astaxanthin; g) isolating the fixed bed extraction zone and regenerating the fixed bed extraction zone by passing a hot second solvent at a regeneration temperature to the provide a first neutral lipid stream or a fixed bed raffinate stream comprising the second solvent, neutral lipids, and astaxanthin; and, h) passing the polar lipid extract stream to a solvent recovery zone to recover the first solvent in a first solvent stream and to provide a high purity polar lipid product stream having a purity of greater than or equal to 50 wt-% polar lipids on a solvent free basis.