Patent ID: 9745539
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: C11B,C12P

Claim:
1. A method of recovering lipids from a population of lipid-producing microorganisms comprising: (a) contacting the population of lipid-producing microorganisms with one or more enzymes under conditions that cause disruption of the microorganisms, wherein the contacting step is performed in the presence of 0.001% to 0.4% enzyme for one to twenty hours at about 55° C.; (b) concentrating the disrupted microorganisms with the lipids by (i) producing a heavy layer and a light layer, wherein the light layer comprises substantially all of the disrupted microorganisms and lipids and (ii) removing at least a portion of the heavy layer; and (c) extracting lipids from the concentrated disrupted microorganisms and lipids of step (b) at a high temperature in the presence of a salt in the absence of organic solvents, wherein extraction separates the lipids from the microorganisms.