Recovery of Bergamot Seed Oil by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction and Comparison with Traditional Solvent Extraction

Abstract

AbstractSupercritical carbon dioxide (SC‐CO2) extraction of bergamot seed oil (Citrus bergamia Risso) was performed to study the effect of various parameters such as pressure and temperature on the yield and composition of oil. The supercritical fluid extraction of bergamot seed oil was studied at 30°C/150 bar, 40°C/150 bar, 50°C 150 bar and 30°C/250 bar. The chemical composition of each SC‐CO2 extraction sample was analysed by GC and the composition was compared with that obtained by petroleum ether extraction. The maximum oil yield was predicted to be 24.18 g/100 g using a petroleum ether extraction, while in the extractions with SC‐CO2 the highest yield was 17.8 g/100 g using an extraction pressure of 15 MPa, temperature of 50°C, extraction duration of 6 h and density of CO2 of 587 Kg/m3.Practical ApplicationsThe seed oil of bergamot has a particular fatty acid composition. This composition lend an interesting feature such as a semi‐siccative oil. The present paper, reports the preliminary investigations in to the extraction of oil from bergamot seeds using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC‐CO2). The oil thus obtained will be compared with that extracted by solvent, to highlight any differences in composition.