Microbial oils with lowered pour points, dielectric fluids produced therefrom, and related methods
View Patent ↗Methods and compositions for the production of dielectric fluids from lipids produced by microorganisms are provided, including oil-bearing microorganisms and methods of low cost cultivation of such microorganisms. Microalgal cells containing exogenous genes encoding, for example, a sucrose transporter, a sucrose invertase, a fructokinase, a polysaccharide-degrading enzyme, a lipid pathway modification enzyme, a fatty acyl-ACP thioesterase, a desaturase, a fatty acyl-CoA/aldehyde reductase, and/or an acyl carrier protein are useful in manufacturing dielectric fluids.
1. A product comprising microbial oil, wherein the oil has a pour point of less than about −5° C., and wherein the fatty acid composition of the microbial oil is at least 50 area % C18:1 fatty acids and less than 2 area % C18:2 fatty acids, as determined by fatty acid methyl ester gas chromatography flame ionization detection methods.
2. The product of claim 1 , wherein the product has a pour point of between about −10° C. and about −40° C.
3. The product of claim 1 , wherein the product has a flash point of 300° C. or higher.
4. The product of claim 1 , further comprising a pour point depressant.
5. The product of claim 1 , wherein the product is a lubricant, a hydraulic fluid, an industrial oil, or a dielectric fluid.
6. The product of claim 5 , wherein the product is a dielectric fluid.
7. The product of claim 6 , wherein the dielectric fluid has a breakdown voltage of 20kV to 75 kV.
8. The product of claim 6 , wherein the dielectric fluid has a dielectric strength of 20 MV/m (RMS) to 75MV/m (RMS).
9. The product of claim 6 , wherein the dielectric fluid further comprises an antioxidant, a metal ion deactivator, a corrosion inhibitor, a demulsifier, an anti-wear additive, a pour point depressant, or an anti-hydrolysis compound.
10. The product of claim 1 , wherein the microbial oil is produced by a genetically engineered microbe engineered to express one or more exogenous genes.
11. The product of claim 10 , wherein the genetically engineered microbe is Prototheca or Chlorella.
12. The product of claim 11 , wherein the genetically engineered microbe is Prototheca moriformis.
13. The product of claims 10 , wherein the one or more exogenous genes encode(s) sucrose invertase or fatty acyl-ACP thioesterase.
14. The product of claim 13 , wherein the one or more exogenous genes encode(s) two or more fatty acyl-ACP thioesterases.
15. The product of claim 13 , wherein the one or more exogenous genes encode(s) sucrose invertase and one or more fatty acyl-ACP thioesterases.
16. A dielectric fluid comprising microbial oil produced by a genetically engineered microbe, wherein the dielectric fluid has a pour point of about −10° C. or lower, and wherein the fatty acid composition of the microbial oil is at least 50 area % C18:1 fatty acids and less than 2 area % C18:2 fatty acids, as determined by fatty acid methyl ester gas chromatography flame ionization detection methods.
17. An electrical component comprising the dielectric fluid of claim 16 .
18. The electrical component of claim 17 that is a transformer.
19. The product of claim 1 , wherein the oil has a pour point of −10° C. or lower.
20. The product of claim 1 , wherein the oil has a pour point of −20° C. or lower.
21. The dielectric fluid of claim 16 , wherein the dielectric fluid has a pour point of −20° C. or lower.