Purification of triglyceride oil from microbial sources using short path distillation

1. A process for reducing the amount of sterol in a sterol-containing microbial oil composition obtained from microbial biomass of recombinant Yarrowia cells, said method comprising:

a) distilling, at least once under short path distillation conditions, the sterol-containing microbial oil composition, wherein said oil composition comprises:

(i) triacylglycerol comprising one or more polyunsaturated fatty acids; and

(ii) a sterol fraction of at least 300 mg/100 g of oil, wherein the sterol fraction comprises one or more sterols selected from the group consisting of stigmasterol, ergosterol, brassicasterol, campesterol, beta-sitosterol, and desmosterol;

wherein said distillation produces a distillate fraction comprising the sterol and a triacylglycerol-containing fraction having a reduced amount of the sterol when compared to the amount of sterol in the sterol-containing microbial oil composition that has not been subjected to short path distillation; and

b) optionally, recovering the triacylglycerol-containing fraction;

wherein said Yarrowia cells are engineered for production of eicosapentaenoic acid and at least 20% of the dry cell weight of said Yarrowia cells is eicosapentaenoic acid.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the short path distillation conditions comprise at least one pass of the sterol-containing microbial oil composition at a vacuum level of not more than 30 mTorr and a temperature of not more than 300° C.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sterol fraction comprises ergosterol.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reduction in the amount of sterols in the triacylglycerol-containing fraction is at least 40% when compared to the amount of sterols in the sterol-containing microbial oil composition.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the triacylglycerol-containing fraction has improved clarity when compared to the sterol-containing microbial oil composition that has not been subjected to short path distillation.

6. The process of claim 2 , wherein the temperature is not more than 280° C.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the sterol-containing microbial oil composition is a refined lipid composition having less than 20 ppm phosphorous as determined with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the recombinant Yarrowia cells are further engineered for production of at least one polyunsaturated fatty acid selected from the group consisting of: linoleic acid, gamma-linolenic acid, eicosadienoic acid, dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid, arachidonic acid, docosatetraenoic acid, omega-6 docosapentaenoic acid, alpha-linolenic acid, stearidonic acid, eicosatrienoic acid, eicosatetraenoic acid, omega-3 docosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and mixtures thereof.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein said distilling comprises two or more consecutive short path distillations of the microbial oil composition.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein each consecutive short path distillation is at a temperature that is higher than the temperature of the immediately preceding short path distillation.