Extraction and Direct Transesterification of Bio-oils and Proteins

Category: Engineering and Physical Sciences

Reference Number: 00679

Description

Applications

• Extraction of bio-oils from microalgae, yeast, or oil seeds

• Direct transesterification of bio-oils for biodiesel production

• Extraction of proteins from biomass

Main Advantages

• Unlike traditional solvent-based extraction technology in which the solvent solubilizes the extracted product, this co-solvent system auto-partitions the bio-oil product into a separate phase. This auto-partitioning effect eliminates the need to separate the bio-oil product from the solvent: the product phase is skimmed off the top of the extraction solution. 

• The co-solvent system can be used to directly transesterify the bio-oils in the biomass without the need to first extract the bio-oil from the biomass. The direct transesterification process can be carried out utilizing either an acid or base catalyst. Similar to the extraction process the resultant FAMEs (biodiesel) product auto-partitons into a separate phase that can be skimmed off the top of the solution. 

• The co-solvent system has an extremely low vapor pressure making is an environmentally (“green”) solvent system with minimal issue with volatile emissions. 

• The technology also works with wet biomass (water content up to 80% by weight).

• The co-solvent system will co-extract proteins and bio-oils. The bio-oils will auto-partition to a separate phase while the proteins will be extracted into the co-solvent for recovery by addtional downstream processing.

Inventor(s)

Michael Cooney, Ph.D.
Gregory Young, Ph.D.
Hawaii Natural Energy Institute

Contact Information

For licensing information, please contact Jonathan Roberts at robertsj@hawaii.edu

For all other inquiries, please write to:

Office of Technology Transfer & Economic Development
University of Hawai’i
2800 Woodlawn Drive, Suite 280
Honolulu, HI 96822