Highly concentrated very long-chain PUFA obtainment by Urea complexation methodology

• Published in: Environmental technology & innovation 2020-05, Vol.18, p.100736, Article 100736
• Main Authors: González-Fernández, María José, Fabrikov, Dmitri, Lyashenko, Svetlana, Ferrón-Carrillo, Francisca, Guil-Guerrero, José Luis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arachidonic; Docosahexaenoic; Eicosapentaenoic; n-3 PUFA; n-6 PUFA; Urea method
• ISSN: 2352-1864; 2352-1864
• DOI: 10.1016/j.eti.2020.100736

The intake of n-3 very long chain PUFA (VLCPUFA) develops several positive physiological actions. Thus, such compounds are currently used as healthy supplements for animals and humans, in animal experimentation, and as standards for chromatographic use. The urea complexation methodology is an old technique for obtaining PUFA concentrates; however, improvements can still be implemented for improving results using this methodology. In this work, highly concentrated eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) and arachidonic acid (ARA, 20:4n-6) have been successfully obtained using such procedure. For this, five oil sources were used: commercially available tuna oil, DHASCO®, ARASCO®, and MARINOL®, and the oil from the microalga Nannochloropsis. Overall, after optimizing the urea:fatty acid ratio, DHA-, EPA-, and ARA-concentrates were obtained at 98.0, 43.0 and 82.8% of total fatty acids. This work clearly shows the importance of the proper selection of the oil source to achieve highly-purity VLCPUFA concentrates by the urea complexation method. [Display omitted] •Very long-chain PUFA were concentrated by the urea inclusion methodology.•A urea:fatty acid ratio of 7:1 gave best results for PUFA purification.•DHASCO®, MARINOL®, and tuna oils yielded DHA at 98.0, 79.5 and 78.6% of fatty acids.•Nannochloropsis® oil yielded EPA at 43% of fatty acids.•ARASCO® oil yielded ARA at 82.8% of fatty acids.