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a b s t r a c tThe chemical composition of redspotted shrimp (Penaeus paulensis) waste was investigated. The shrimp waste (freeze-dried heads, shells and tails) was found to have high protein (49% d.w.) and ash (27% d.w.) contents, but a low lipid content (4.9% d.w.) although the latter was higher than those found in other kinds of shrimp captured in Brazil. The fatty acid compositions showed that the lipids had a high content of unsaturated fatty acids, mainly EPA (C20:5; n-3) and DHA (C22:6; n-3). In order to establish an efficient and environmentally friendly recovery process for the astaxanthin (principal carotenoid and antioxidant present in the waste), the following processes were examined: traditional solvent extraction (TSE), super-critical fluid extraction (SC-CO 2 ) and super-critical fluid extraction with co-solvent (SC-CO 2 + ethanol). The temperature and pressure conditions for all the SC-CO 2 extractions were 50°C and 30.0 MPa. The results showed that the mixture of 60% (v/v) n-hexane:isopropyl alcohol gave the highest (53 mg/kg waste) carotenoid extraction yield as compared to acetone, SC-CO 2 and SC-CO 2 + ethanol. The SC-CO 2 showed the lowest extraction yield of astaxanthin, but the addition of the entrainer (10% w/w) produced an important effect, increasing the astaxanthin extraction to values of 57.9%, similar to extraction with acetone (63.3%).