Method of making lipids with improved cold flow properties
Provided herein are methods of producing oils with reduced saturated fatty acids. The methods include culturing oil-producing microorganisms in a fermentation medium in the presence of one or more antifoaming agents under a controlled carbon consumption rate, wherein the culturing produces oils comprising fatty acids and wherein less than 35% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids.
1. A method of producing oil with reduced saturated fatty acids comprising:
culturing oil-producing Thraustochytrium microorganisms having ATCC Accession No. PTA-6245 in a fermentation medium in the presence of one or more antifoaming agents under a controlled carbon consumption rate,
wherein the culturing produces an oil comprising fatty acids, wherein 20% to 35% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids, and wherein the oil comprises 10 to 30% omega-7 fatty acids comprising palmitoleic acid (C16:1(n-7)) and cis-vaccenic acid (C18:1(n-7)).
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antifoaming agent is a mineral oil based antifoaming agent, vegetable oil based antifoaming agent, silicon based antifoaming agent, oil/water emulsion based antifoaming agent, polyethylene glycol (PEG) based antifoaming agent, or a polypropylene glycol based antifoaming agent.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antifoaming agent is a vegetable oil based antifoaming agent and wherein the vegetable oil based antifoaming agent is soybean oil or rapeseed oil.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antifoaming agent is a polyethylene glycol (PEG) based antifoaming agent, or a polypropylene glycol based antifoaming agent.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more antifoaming agents are continuously or intermittently added to the fermentation medium throughout the culturing.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the antifoaming agent is added intermittently to the fermentation medium throughout the culturing.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the antifoaming agent is added every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30 minutes throughout the culturing.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more antifoaming agents are added to the fermentation medium at a rate of 0.0075 to 0.05 g/L per hour throughout the culturing.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon consumption rate is controlled to be between 1.5 and 4.5 g/L per hour throughout the culturing.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon consumption rate is controlled by aeration, agitation, vessel backpressure or a combination thereof.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the carbon consumption rate is controlled by continuous addition of one or more carbon source(s) throughout the culturing.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melting point of the oil is from 20 to 33° C.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cloud point of the oil is from 5 to 20° C.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pour point of the oil is from −10 to 15° C.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein 20% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein 20% to 25% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein 20% to 30% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein 30% to 35% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids and wherein the oil is flowable at a temperature between 9 and 15° C.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein 25% to 30% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids and wherein the oil is flowable at a temperature between −9° C. and 9° C.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein 20% to 25% of the fatty acids in the oil are saturated fatty acids and wherein the oil is flowable at a temperature between 0° C. and 4° C.
21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the saturated fatty acids comprise C16:0 (palmitic acid) and C14:0 (myristic acid).
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the oil comprises omega-7 fatty acids and wherein the oil comprises a higher concentration of omega-7 fatty acids as compared to a control oil.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the control oil comprise less than 5% omega-7 fatty acids.
24. The method of claim 1 , wherein culturing is carried out for one to several days.
25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting the oil from the microorganisms.