The effect of fluid flow rate and extraction time in supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is the best extraction method for high purity of charantin rich extract from Momordica charantia fruit. It is due to the unique characteristic of transport properties of supercritical fluid such as viscosity and diffusivity. Therefore, the focus of this study was to investigate the effects of carbon dioxide flow rate and extraction time on the Momordica charantia extract yield. The effects of carbon dioxide flow rate and extraction time were investigated using flow rate of 4, 6 and 8 mL/min with constant mean particle size of 0.3 mm. Different temperatures (45 and 65oC) and pressures (10 and 30 MPa) were used to investigate the effect between low and high operating condition. Based on the results, it showed that as the carbon dioxide flow rate increased to 8 mL/min, the extract yield increased to 3.698% at low operating condition. Furthermore, the time taken to reach plateau phase decreased from 150 min to 90 min. Therefore, it is recommended to use high flow rate in this study for highest extract yield in short time.