REDUCED FLUORINE CRUSTACEAN POLAR PHOSPHOLIPID COMPOSITIONS

Abstract

Fluorine being present in the exoskeleton of crustaceans, and especially krill represents a problem for using krill as a source for food, feed, food additives and/or feed additives. There has been developed a process for removing such fluorine from krill material by subjecting the krill to disintegration and to an enzymatic hydrolysis process prior to or simultaneously with a removal of the exoskeleton particles producing a fluorine-reduced product. Inherent in the disclosed process is the ability to process krill material with a high polar lipid content for producing superior quality, low fluorine, products suitable for the food and feed as well as the pharmaceutical, neutraceutical and cosmetic industry.

Claims

1. A method, comprising: a) providing; i) a distintegration apparatus comprising sea water and a crustacean catch; ii) a plurality of exogenous proteolytic enzymes; and iii) a particle removal device; b) distintegrating said crustacean catch with said disintegration apparatus in said sea water to produce a disintegrated crustacean catch; c) replacing said sea water with fresh water and adding said plurality of exogenous proteolytic enzymes; d) hydrolyzing said disintegrated crustacean catch with said plurality of proteolytic enzymes to produce a hydrolyzed crustacean material; and e) separating said hydrolyzed crustacean material with said particle removal device to produce a proteinaceous crustacean fraction having an at least 85% reduction in fluorine content as compared to said crustacean catch.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said particle removal device removes a solids fraction from said hydrolyzed crustacean material.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said hydrolyzing has a duration selected from the group consisting of no longer than 100 minutes and within 60 minutes.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising deactivating said plurality of exogenous proteolytic enzymes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said deactivating occurs at a step selected from the group consisting of before said separating, during said separating and after said separating.

6. The method claim 1, wherein said proteinaceous crustacean fraction comprises a polar lipids concentrate.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said polar lipids concentrate comprises phospholipids.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said disintegrated crustacean catch has a size not larger than 25 mm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said disintegrated crustacean catch has a particle size ranging between approximately 0.5-10 mm.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said disintegrated crustacean catch and said fresh water are in a ratio of 0.5 to 1.5 (w/w).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said seawater is at a temperature ranging between approximately 2 and +10 C.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said replacing is done within 20 seconds after said disintegrating.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said particle removal device comprises a long clarification/separation zone and is operated with high gravitational separation forces.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said particle removal device is a sedicanter.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said fresh water is heated within 1-300 seconds after said disintegrating.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said exogenous proteolytic enzymes are selected from the group consisting of alkalase, neutrase, microorganism enzymes and plant enzymes.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein said deactivating comprises heating said fresh water to a temperature over 90 C.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein said crustacean catch is a fresh crustaean catch.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said crustacean catch is selected from the group consisting of a krill catch and an Antarctic krill catch.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein said method is performed on a fishing vessel.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said crustacean catch has been immediately landed on said fishing vessel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0052] FIG. 1. A specially designed decanter with an extended separation path. This example is a FLOTTWEG SEDICANTER horizontal decanter centrifuge.