Economic evaluation of supercritical fluid and pressurized liquid extraction to obtain phytonutrients from biquinho pepper: Analysis of single and sequential-stage processes

Abstract

The economic evaluation of single stages of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and sequential high-pressure extraction (SFE + PLE) was performed for the obtention of capsiate-rich oleoresin and phenolics from biquinho pepper. SuperPro Designer was used to estimate the cost of manufacturing (COM), which was calculated for each kinetic yield point to define the end of the extraction to be used in the evaluation of the sequential process. Extractor volumes of 5, 50, and 500 L were considered. The evaluation of single stages (50 L and 500 L scales) showed the lowest COM for capsiate and phenolic compounds at the solvent to feed mass ratios of 4.9 and 10, respectively. For both cases, the scale-up reduced the COM. The COM values obtained for the sequential process were lower than the commercialization price of the extracts, which suggests that producing biquinho derived products is economically attractive.