Patent ID: 8227216

Claim:
A method for producing algal medium chain length fatty acids or hydrocarbons, comprising: (a) culturing an algal strain selected from the group consisting of Nannochloropsis strain LARB-AZ 0202.0 deposited at ATCC Deposit Number PTA-11048, LARB-AZ 0202.2 deposited at ATCC Deposit Number PTA-11049, LARB-AZ 202.3 deposited at ATCC Deposit Number PTA-11050, and mutants thereof wherein said algal strain produces a first medium chain length fatty acid subset wherein at least 60% of the fatty acids in said subset are of a chain length of C16, wherein the culturing is conducted under conditions suitable to promote production of the first medium chain fatty acid subset; and (b) extracting said first medium chain length fatty acid subset from said algal strain to produce a first medium chain length combination, said method optionally further comprising converting said first medium chain length combination extracted from the algal strain into a hydrocarbon fraction and refining the hydrocarbon fraction to produce one or more fractions enriched in C16 medium chain length hydrocarbons.