Preparation of Omega‐3 PUFA Concentrates from Fish Oils via Urea Complexation

• Published in: Lipid / Fett
• Main Authors: Ratnayake, W. M. N., Olsson, B., Matthews, D., Ackman, R. G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1988
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lipi.19880901002; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Flipi.19880901002; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/lipi.19880901002

Abstract The effect of weight ratio of urea to fatty acids and the urea‐fatty acid adduct crystallization temperature on the enrichment of eicosapentaenoic acid from marine oil fatty acids was studied. The optimum ratio of urea to fatty acids was found to be 3 : 1 for laboratory scale preparations and the optimum temperature for the formation of urea‐fatty acid adduct was 1°C. At very low temperatures (−12, −18, −35°C) the recovery efficiency for EPA was reduced. Using these optimum values, enrichment of EPA and other n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids via urea complexation was carried out on a pilot plant scale in a variety of North Atlantic and North Pacific fist oils and a seal oil. Irrespective of hte type of starting oil, all the oils gave a concentrate with 69–85% total n‐3 PUFA with an overall yield of 17–20%. Menhaden is clearly an ideal oil for preparation of EPA concentrate, as the starting oil usually has a higher proportion of EPA to DHA than most of the other commercial fish oils.