The present invention relates to methods of producing industrial products from plant lipids, particularly from vegetative parts of plants. In particular, the present invention provides oil products such as biodiesel and synthetic diesel and processes for producing these, as well as plants having an increased level of one or more non-polar lipids such as triacylglycerols and an increased total non-polar lipid content. In one particular embodiment, the present invention relates to combinations of modifications in two or more of lipid handling enzymes, oil body proteins, decreased lipid catabolic enzymes and/or transcription factors regulating lipid biosynthesis to increase the level of one or more non-polar lipids and/or the total non-polar lipid content and/or mono-unsaturated fatty acid content in plants or any part thereof. In an embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for extracting lipids. In another embodiment, the lipid is converted to one or more hydrocarbon products in harvested plant vegetative parts to produce alkyl esters of the fatty acids which are suitable for use as a renewable biodiesel fuel.

The present invention relates to methods of producing industrial products from plant lipids, particularly from vegetative parts of plants. In particular, the present invention provides oil products such as biodiesel and synthetic diesel and processes for producing these, as well as plants having an increased level of one or more non-polar lipids such as triacylglycerols and an increased total non-polar lipid content. In one particular embodiment, the present invention relates to combinations of modifications in two or more of lipid handling enzymes, oil body proteins, decreased lipid catabolic enzymes and/or transcription factors regulating lipid biosynthesis to increase the level of one or more non-polar lipids and/or the total non-polar lipid content and/or mono-unsaturated fatty acid content in plants or any part thereof. In an embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for extracting lipids. In another embodiment, the lipid is converted to one or more hydrocarbon products in harvested plant vegetative parts to produce alkyl esters of the fatty acids which are suitable for use as a renewable biodiesel fuel.

PROBLEM To provide a composition comprising highly enriched PUFA or its alkyl esters while containing fatty acid esters of 3-MCPD at adequately low concentrations and to provide an efficient method for producing the composition. MEANS FOR SOLVING A composition that contains fatty acids or fatty acid alkyl esters as its major component, the composition containing highly unsaturated fatty acid or alkyl ester thereof, wherein the proportion of the highly unsaturated fatty acid in the constituent fatty acids of the composition is 50 area % or more and wherein the concentration of 3-MCPD as found upon analyzing the composition by American Oil Chemists' Society official method Cd 29b-13 assay A is less than 1.80 ppm.

The present invention relates to methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid, in recombinant cells such as yeast or plant cells. Also provided are recombinant cells or plants which produce long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a group of new enzymes which possess desaturase or elongase activity that can be used in methods of synthesizing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. In particular, the present invention provides ω3 destaurases, Δ5 elongases and Δ6 desaturases with novel activities. Also provided are methods and DNA constructs for transiently and/or stably transforming cells, particularly plant cells, with multiple genes.

Provided are methods to destabilize emulsion feedstocks. Benefits of the provided methods include a reducing or eliminating the amount of acid necessary to process the feedstocks, less processing time, cleaner separation of the resulting phases, and increased recovery of valuable products. In the methods, a moderate temperature is applied to the feedstock to create a first mixture. The moderate temperature may be between 120 and 220 degrees Celsius. The first mixture is mixed at the moderate temperature, such as by staged mixing in some embodiments. Moreover, the first mixture is retained at the moderate temperature for up to six hours. The first mixture is separated into an oil phase, convoluted phase, and a water phase. In some embodiments, the moderate temperature may be 125 to 150 degrees Celsius, such as between 125 and 130 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the first mixture may be retained at the moderate temperature for between forty-five minutes and four hours, such as from two to four hours. The separation may occur at the moderate temperature.

Membrane-based method of washing and deacidification of oils, wherein a stream of oil is conveyed from an oil reservoir along one side of porous hydrophobic membrane, and washing aqueous solution is conveyed along another side of this membrane. The membranes form hollow fibers, and their total surface area and porosity are large enough for efficient removal of fatty acids, water, ions and hydrophilic organic impurities from oil. Membrane pore size is small enough, so that hydrodynamic mixing of oil and aqueous solution does not take place. Additional stabilization of oil/water meniscus in the pores is achieved by transmembrane pressure difference.

A method of recovering one or more insoluble oils from a liquid source using one or more membrane or membrane contactors, comprising the steps of: pumping the liquid source comprising the one or more oils to the membranes or membrane contactors, contacting the liquid source with a first surface of the membrane or membrane contactors, coalescing the one or more oils within the liquid source onto the first surface of the membrane contactors, pumping one or more recovery fluids through the membrane or membrane contactors in contact with the second surface of the membrane or membrane contactors, and removing a first stream of oil coalesced from the second surface of the membranes or membrane contactors.

Biological compositions containing animal fats and plant oils desirably are free of contaminants prior to processing into a biofuel. Disclosed herein is a method of removing such contaminants from these compositions to make that processing more efficient. The method employs a unique arrangement of mixers and centrifuges along with acidic solutions and recycle streams to remove these contaminants from the compositions.

The present invention provides compositions and methods related to the production and use of enzymes suitable for reducing the amount of steryl glycosides or saturated monoacyl glycerols in a lipid mixture.

A process and apparatus for recovering crude tall oil are disclosed. Acidulation of a crude tall oil soap stream generates a spent acid stream that comprises lignin and entrained crude tall oil. By subjecting the spent acid stream to dissolved gas flotation, a lignin phase comprising entrained crude tall oil can be recovered and causticized, resulting in recovery of most of the crude tall oil that was present in the spent acid stream. A clarified spent acid stream is also generated, which can be treated with caustic and utilized for a soap washing process that integrates easily into the overall CTO recovery process. The apparatus comprises a crude tall oil acidulation unit, a dissolved gas flotation unit, a causticizing unit, and a soap separation unit. The inventive process marries dissolved gas flotation, a well-known water treatment process, with causticization of a recovered lignin phase, a step known from batch acidulation, to improve overall tall oil recovery from a continuous process.