Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a culture device capable of accurately detecting the gas-liquid interface of a culture solution in a fermenter. The above problem is solved by provided a culture device that includes: a liquid surface sensor for detecting a foam layer height from the bottom of the fermenter to the top of a foam layer; and a pressure sensor for detecting a liquid surface height from the bottom of the fermenter to a gas-liquid interface, the culture device having installed at least two pressure sensors below the gas-liquid interface, the at least two pressure sensors each being the pressure sensor.

Abstract: The object of an aspect of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a long-chain fatty acid, the method making it possible to prevent a coloring component from being contained in the long-chain fatty acid and recover the long-chain fatty acid at a high yield. The above problem is solved by providing a method for producing a long-chain fatty acid, the method including the steps of: (a) with use of an enzyme, decomposing, into fatty acids, triglyceride contained in a raw vegetable oil which is derived from a vegetable-derived oil-containing waste; (b) removing, by distillation, a short-chain fatty acid contained in the raw vegetable oil which has been subjected to the step (a); and (c) recovering, by short-path distillation, a long-chain fatty acid contained in the raw vegetable oil which has been subjected to the step (b).

Abstract: A method for producing lipid particles, including: injecting molten lipids directly into a liquid at a temperature lower than a melting point of the lipids through a liquid supply port of a two-fluid nozzle while injecting a gas directly into the liquid through a gas supply port of the two-fluid nozzle, so that the molten lipids are dispersed and atomized into particles in the liquid due to the gas and the particles are solidified to form lipid particles. The lipids have a water solubility of 10 g/L or less at 25° C. and are solid at 25° C. The two-fluid nozzle is heated to a temperature at least 10° C. higher than the melting point of the lipids. A ratio D50/Nd of a volume median diameter D50 of the lipid particles to an orifice diameter Nd of the liquid supply port of the two-fluid nozzle is 0.0017 or more and 0.17 or less.

Abstract: A free fatty acid-containing substance, which is a waste liquid or by-product obtained in a process for producing palm oil or which is a hydrolysate of the waste liquid or by-product, is subjected to distillation treatment to obtain a free fatty acid fraction satisfying the requirements (i), (ii) and (iii), and a polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganism is cultured in a culture solution containing the free fatty acid fraction. (i) The content of squalene is 0.05 wt % or less. (ii) The ratio of a peak area of trimethylindene to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is 110 or less in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis. (iii) The ratio of a peak area of butyric acid to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is less than 10 in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis.

Abstract: A free fatty acid-containing substance, which is a waste liquid or by-product obtained in a process for producing palm oil or which is a hydrolysate of the waste liquid or by-product, is subjected to distillation treatment to obtain a free fatty acid fraction satisfying the requirements (i), (ii) and (iii), and a polyhydroxyalkanoate-producing microorganism is cultured in a culture solution containing the free fatty acid fraction. (i) The content of squalene is 0.05 wt % or less. (ii) The ratio of a peak area of trimethylindene to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is 110 or less in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis. (iii) The ratio of a peak area of butyric acid to a peak area of a naphthalene-d8 standard is less than 10 in first-dimensional dynamic headspace-GC/TOFMS analysis.