Extraction of Acrocomia intumescens Drude oil with supercritical carbon dioxide: Process modeling and comparison with organic solvent extractions

• Extraction of macaúba oil with supercritical CO2 and organic solvents.
• The plant materials considered were the fruit pulp and almond.
• Free fatty acid composition profiles obtained were compared.
• Supercritical CO2 presented high selectivity for fatty acids.
• Kinetics of the supercritical experiments was investigated.

In this work, the extraction of Acrocomia intumescens Drude (“macaúba”) oils from the fruit pulp and almond using supercritical carbon dioxide and organic solvents, such as n-hexane and ethanol, was investigated in order to compare the processes efficiencies. Supercritical extracts were obtained with pressures ranging from 100 to 200 bar and at 40 and 55 °C, providing solvent densities from 325.42 to 840.61 kg/m3. Conventional extractions were performed at high and low temperatures. The highest global yields obtained were 26.90 and 31.10% (w/w), considering the almond and the fruit pulp, respectively. The obtained extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography and the free fatty acids composition profiles could be compared. Additionally, evaluation of kinetic aspects of the supercritical extraction process was performed by using mathematical models presented in the literature. The modeled results presented good agreement with experimental data at the investigated conditions.

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