Rapid estimation of the manufacturing cost of extracts obtained by supercritical fluid extraction

In spite of the scientific knowledge and the large availability of raw materials having sufficient quality and cost, there is no industrial supercritical fluid extraction unit in any of the South American countries. Supercritical fluid extraction is associated with high investment costs; nowadays, an easy method for technical-economical evaluation of supercritical fluid process is not available. Thus, a simple method to estimate the cost of manufacturing of extracts by supercritical fluid technology is presented. The manufacturing costs of clove bud oil and ginger oleoresin were estimated using the procedure proposed. The production of clove bud oil was economically feasible at the quoted extraction condition; its manufacturing cost approximately a fourth of the market price. The manufacturing cost of ginger oleoresin was close to its selling price at the extraction condition considered. This is mainly due to the strong influence of the investment on the cost of manufacturing ginger extracts by supercritical extraction due to the requirement of long extraction times. Nonetheless, some other characteristics of the ginger oleoresin such as the quantity and the availability of gingerols and shogaols should be considered. Additionally, further process parameter studies directed to the increase of the extraction rates should be considered before disregarding the supercritical fluid extraction as a viable process.