Isolation of plant products by supercritical-fluid extraction

Abstract

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of plant materials began with industry and moved to the laboratory, along with supercritical‐fluid chromatography, as high pressure systems became available. SFE has been applied to several groups of non‐polar compounds, including essential oils, other flavour and fragrance compounds, medicinal compounds, lipids, carotenes and alkaloids. Each of these groups are reviewed in turn, together with the conditions used for their extraction. Information comparing the efficiency of SFE with solvent extraction or steam distillation would be valuable but is not always available. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Plant Metabolites and Nutritional Quality of Vegetables

“…SFC has been applied to the separation of vegetable carotenoids and carotenoid isomers (Schmitz and others 1989), and the isolation of vegetable lipids, tocopherols, and carotenoids (Señoráns and others 1999; Lesellier and Tchapla 2000; Ollanketo and others 2001). Due to lack of toxicity, the method has been extended to supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of plant nonpolar substances such as essential oils, flavor and fragrance compounds, lipids, carotenes, and alkaloids (Jarvis and Morgan 1997). …”

Oleuropein: Methods for extraction, purifying and applying

“…The most commonly used solvent for extraction in supercritical media is carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which is inert, non-flammable and does not harm the environment (Jarvis & Morgan, 1997) however, this substance has an apolar nature, making it impossible to use in extracting polar compounds (Duarte, 2011). Also, because high pressure is used, expensive equipment is needed, increasing the cost of the final product (Herrero et al, 2006).…”