Solubility of virgin coconut oil in supercritical carbon dioxide

The dynamic method was utilized to investigate the solubility of virgin coconut oil (VCO) in SC-CO2 at temperatures and pressures ranging from 313 K to 353 K and 20.7 MPa to 34.5 MPa, respectively. The highest solubility, 0.0408 g/g, was obtained at 353 K and 34.5 MPa, which were the highest temperature and pressure levels used in the study. VCO solubility increases with temperature at pressures between 31.0 and 34.5 MPa, while at pressures between 20.7 and 24.1 MPa, VCO solubility decreases with an increase in temperature. At pressures between 27.5 and 30.5 MPa, a solubility cross-over region was observed. VCO solubility data was correlated with the Chrastil and del Valle-Aguilera models. Within the range of experimental conditions, the solubility data showed a good correlation to both models, with an average absolute percent deviation (AAPD) value of 0.93 and 0.39 for the Chrastil and del Valle-Aguilera model, respectively.