Abstract
The objective of this work was to investigate the effectiveness of supercritical carbon dioxide as anti-solvent for the encapsulation of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis in co-polymer poly(hydroxybutirate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) with dichloromethane as organic solvent using the solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) technique. For the co-precipitation experiments of astaxanthin in PHBV the parameters tested were precipitation pressures of 80 and 100bar, the biomass containing astaxanthin: dichloromethane ratio (5, 8 and 10mgmL−1) at the carotenoid extraction step, PHBV concentration of 20mgmL−1 at the organic solution, keeping constant the temperature at 308K, solution flow rate, 1mLmin−1, and anti-solvent flow rate at 20mLmin−1. For the co-precipitation experiments the results showed that smaller particles (mean particle size of 0.128μm) were obtained at the highest pressure tested (100bar), while the highest encapsulation efficiency (48.25%) was obtained when using 10mgmL−1 of biomass containing astaxanthin:solvent ratio.
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