Separation of squalene and oil from Amaranthus seeds by supercritical carbon dioxide

Supercritical fluid extraction was used to obtain oil and squalene from Amaranthus seeds. Results of studies on selection of optimum condition for extraction by supercritical carbon dioxide i.e. pressure, temperature and time of process and effect of sample pre-treatment on extraction yield were presented. It was found that all these factors have a significant effect on the amount of isolated oil, content of squalene in it and yield of squalene. Extraction was carried out at temperature of 30–130 °C, pressure of 10–30 MPa and CO2 flow rate of 6.4–10.0 lCO2/h. Among the conditions studied, the highest yield of the extracted oil (64% of the seeds) was obtained at higher pressure, low temperature and long time of extraction (30 MPa, 40 °C and 120 min). Whereas, the highest content of squalene in the extract (60%) was obtained at lower pressure, higher temperature and short time of extraction (20 MPa, 130 °C and 30 min). However, high recovery of squalene (>99%) from seeds is obtained at the same conditions of pressure and temperature but in significantly longer time of extraction (90 min).

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► Break-up of seeds and filler addition favour quantity of oil and squalene extracted from amaranth.
► Selection of SFE conditions allows to obtain oil with desirable yield and squalene content in it.
► Low pressure, high temperature and short time favour extraction of high-purity squalene.
► High pressure, low temperature and long time of extraction result in high oil recoveries.