High purity separation of EPA from a model lipid-ester mixture simulating nannochloropsis sp. Oil by simulated moving-bed chromatography

Abstract

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid known to have a variety of positive effects on human health. To date, EPA available on the market is mostly derived from fish oil which has major problems of limited supply and heavy metal contamination. For this reason, microalgal oil is considered to be a promising alternative as EPA source. High purity separation of EPA is also a critical technology required for high-purity applications such as medical use. In this study, a simulated moving-bed chromatography (SMBc) process capable of separating high-purity EPA from a microalgal oil was proposed and its performance was demonstrated by using a lipid ester mixture simulating Nannochloropsis oil. First, a proper adsorbent was selected and the adsorption and mass-transfer parameters were determined by pulse experiment. The SMBc process was designed and optimized to maximize EPA purity and yield through modeling and simulation based on these parameters. In order to verify the performance of the process, lab-scale experiments were performed. As a result, an EPA purity close to 100% was obtained with no noticeable loss.