Biological oils and production and uses Thereof

Abstract

The present invention provides biological oils and methods and uses thereof. The biological oils are preferably produced by heterotrophic fermentation of one or more microorganisms using cellulose-containing feedstock as a main source of carbon. The present invention also provides methods of producing lipid-based biofuels and food, nutritional, and pharmaceutical products using the biological oils.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 960,037, filed Sep. 12, 2007, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to biological oils and uses and production thereof. The biological oils of the present invention can be produced by fermentation of a microorganism, preferably using a cellulose-containing feedstock. The present invention also relates to methods of producing lipid-based biofuels and fuel additives, and food, nutritional, and pharmaceutical products using these biological oils.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The production of biological oils from sources such as plants (including oilseeds), microorganisms, and animals is essential for various purposes. For example, the production of biodiesel requires large quantities of biological oils. Biodiesel has been proposed as a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method for producing biological oil using a microorganism of the kingdom Stramenopile, specifically Thraustochytrid, Schizochytrium, or Ulkenia. The microorganism is fed with cellulose and produces a biological oil with a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids. The method involves fermenting the microorganism to produce the biological oil, which can then be used to produce biodiesel or jet biofuel. The invention also provides a lipid-based biofuel composition containing alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids. The technical effects of the invention include improved biological oil production and a more sustainable and cost-effective method for producing biodiesel and jet biofuel."

Problems solved by technology

For example, the production of biodiesel requires large quantities of biological oils.

Current supplies of vegetable oils for conversion to biodiesel have had trouble meeting these mandate levels, resulting in higher prices for many oilseed crops, particularly soybeans.

Unfortunately, if current sources of oil for biodiesel do not change significantly, this goal may never be realized.

There are however, serious problems with the photosynthetic algae technology that prevent the massive scale-up which are required to compete effectively with fossil diesel technology.

This approach obviously does not produce a truly carbon neutral fuel as the CO2 from a coal plant is still released to the atmosphere eventually (after the biodiesel is burned), but it does delay the rate at which fossil-derived CO2 is released and generates more useful energy per unit mass of fossil fuel.

Thus, many photobioreactors are required to produce even limited quantities of biodiesel.

Therefore, while this technology is useful as a bioremediation strategy for sequestering carbon (and other greenhouse gases) from fossil-fuel burning electrical plants, it is unlikely scalable to the levels required to meet future biodiesel demands.

However, there is a significant problem which has not yet been addressed.

While the absolute theoretical yields of oil per acre per year are quite high, the actual density of biomass accumulated in open pond systems is relatively dilute.

Because of this, massive volumes of culture media need to be processed to extract the oil from the biomass, which could significantly increase the costs of the final oil.

Unfortunately, the United States does not have a climate that could support the kind of sugarcane productivity needed for massive ethanol production.

Initial efforts at scaling up American ethanol fermentation have used corn syrup and corn starch as a feedstock, but there is controversy surrounding the sustainability and scalability of this arrangement as well.

Today's primary biodiesel crops use land in a similarly inefficient way (as corn for ethanol) since only the oil from the seeds of biodiesel crops is used to make biodiesel.

Although these researchers have suggested that starch and cellulose hydrolyzed solutions can be a low cost substitute for glucose as a carbon source in the fermentation process, they have also suggested that cellulose hydrolyzation is difficult and costly.

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