Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Basil Oil: Characterization of Products and Process Modeling
- The Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 7(3), p.185-190, 1994 .
Supercritical CO2 extraction of essential oil from basil leaves was performed using a semicontinuous extraction procedure and a two-stage separation technique. Both a laboratory unit and a pilot plant were used, equipped with extraction vessels of 0.4- and 20-dm3 volume, respectively. The products were collected and analyzed by GC-MS. Waxes were found in the first separator and basil essential oil in the second separator. The yield of the extraction process was measured for three different particle sizes. A model based on the description of the mass transfer from a single spherical particle of leaf was applied. The model predictions were considered to be in fair agreement with experimental data over the entire range of experimental conditions explored.