Broken and Intact Cell Model for supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of tea Camellia sinensis (L) seed oil

Abstract

The model of broken and intact cells was used to fit the experimental data, and it was proved to be able to describe the extraction process of tea seed oil. The extraction rate, observed through the overall extraction curves (OEC), resulted in being faster the higher the pressure whereas the temperature had less influence on the extraction kinetics. The volume mass transfer coefficients in the fluid phase (kfa0) and solid phase (ksas) were used as fitting parameters. The maximum average deviation between measured and calculated oil yield was 4.1%. Mass transfer coefficients in the fluid phase and solid phase varied between 2.40·10−2–2.75·10−2 s−1 and 4.32·10−5–6.90·10−5 s−1, respectively. The outcomes of work showed the highest extraction yield (50.03 ± 0.68% w/w) obtained at 300 bar and 40 °C. Tea seed oil extracted using SC-CO2 presented higher antioxidant capacity and lower UV indices than oil extracted with n-hexane.