TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wei, Puah C. 
AU  - May, Choo Y. 
AU  - Ngan, Ma A. 
AU  - Hock, Chuah C. 
PY  - 2005
TI  - Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Palm Carotenoids
JF  - American Journal of Environmental Sciences
VL  - 1
IS  - 4
DO  - 10.3844/ajessp.2005.264.269
UR  - https://thescipub.com/abstract/ajessp.2005.264.269
AB  - The extraction of carotenoids from crude palm oil was carried out in a dynamic (flow- through) supercritical fluid extraction system. The carotenoids obtained were quantified using off-line UV-visible spectrophotometry. The effects of operating pressure and temperature, flow rate of the supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), sample size of feed used on the solubility of palm carotenoids were investigated. The results showed that the extraction of carotenoids was governed by its solubility in the SC-CO2 and can be enhanced by increasing pressure at a constant temperature or decreasing temperature at a constant pressure. Increasing the flow rate and decreasing the sample size can reduce the extraction time but do not enhance the solubility. Palm carotenoids have very low solubility in SC-CO2 in the range of 1.31 x 10-4 g kg-1 to 1.58 x 10-3 g kg-1 for the conditions investigated in this study. The experimental data obtained were compared with those published by other workers and correlated by a density-based equation as proposed by Chrastil.