Patent ID: 7718195

Claim:
An improved separation process for production of oil from a biological material, the process comprising the steps of: freezing the biological material such as to make membranes surrounding cells in the frozen biological material brittle and rupture to liberate contents of the cells wherein the freezing step the biological material is frozen to a temperature of 0° C. to −50° C. wherein the freezing step is performed at a rate of about −1° C./minute; treating mechanically the frozen biological material to produce particles having a mean particle diameter not exceeding 50 millimeters wherein the step of treating mechanically of the material is at least one of the group consisting of grinding, milling, chopping and pressing; thawing the treated biological material to a first temperature wherein the thawing step is performed using heating selected form the group consisting of microwave heating, heat exchanging heating, infra-red heating, and electric conduction heating; separating oil from the thawed biological material at the first temperature; recording a first yield of oil from the thawed biological material at the first temperature; warming the treated biological material to another temperature; isolating oil from the thawed biological material at the another temperature; recording another yield of oil from the thawed biological material at the another temperature; and obtaining an optimum temperature at which to separate oil from the biological material by considering factors selected from the group consisting of oil yields, peroxide concentration numbers, percentages of free fatty acid, vitamin A concentrations, viscosity and anisidine values, wherein the biological material is selected from the group consisting of fish liver, whale blubber, soy beans, sunflower seeds, olive seeds, and corn seeds.