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A novel selective extraction method to produce active solutions with from plant materials was developed. Named by our research group as High Turbulence Extraction Assisted by Ultrasound (HTEAU) the feasibility of this process was demonstrated using semi-defatted annatto seeds (Bixa orellana L.) as a model plant material and ethanol as extracting solvent. HTEAU process combines the use of two types of commercial equipments and technologies. The first is Ultra-turrax ® rotor-stator technology, which produces high turbulence in the plant material bed by high extracting solvent circulation flow rate (until 2000 cm 3 /min) and the second is ultrasound technology, which is recognized to improve the extraction rate by the increasing the mass transfer and possible rupture of cell wall due the formation of microcavities. These equipments were coupled and put into operation at its maximum power of operability and the values for these parameters were determined through simultaneous optimization of oils, phenols, bixin recoveries. The effects of extraction method and solvent mass to feed mass ratio (S/F) on oils, phenols, bixin recoveries were evaluated by analyses of variance (ANOVA), demonstrating that the coupling of ultrasound probe into the Ultra-turrax ® equipment statistically promotes the selective extraction of total phenols and bixin.

Background:An efficient process for extracting food ingredients from plant materials should demand the use of a reduced volume of extraction solvent to obtain a final product that is free of solvent and reduces both the processing time and the costs. In some cases, achieving a new efficient process requires the modification, reconfiguration or renewal of elements that are part of a processing unit.Objective:The goal of this work is to describe the development of a modification of a commercial supercritical fluid extraction pilot unit designed to assist CO2recycling based on subcritical adsorption on an adsorbent material. In addition to the construction and validation of the system, a cost survey was performed to estimate the cost of the homemade device developed to allow effective CO2recycling.Methods:The developed device was tested using cotton and Celite®as model adsorption materials and annatto seeds (Bixa orellana L.) as a model plant material. A 0.65 L adsorption column was installed with a set of connections and valves that complemented the unit’s recycle system. The validation procedure consisted of defatting annatto seeds.Results:The proposed online subcritical adsorption-based device was technically validated using cotton as an adsorbent material. The cost survey showed that an estimated total cost of USD 5731.36 would be required to install the developed device in a Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) unit similar to the one coupled here (5 L).Conclusion:The proposed device was demonstrated to be very promising for application in the pseudocontinuous SFE, recirculating the same amount of CO2mass exceeding the S/F values by 14 times, when compared to a process without a CO2recycling system.