Abstract
Sugarcane bagasse, is one of the largest agriculture residues in the world and its chemical composition is interesting for several areas. Among one of the lipid components was found phytosterols. These are structurally and functionally similar to cholesterol, they are contributing to the reduction of cholesterol in the blood when consumed. Phytosterols were extracted with supercritical CO2 from sugarcane bagasse. In this work was evaluated the effect of temperature (40–80 °C), flowrate (6–10 ml min−1), pressure (200–400 bar) and co-solvent (0–10% ethanol) on extraction yield and phytosterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol) concentration. The addition of co-solvent improves total phytosterols concentration at low pressure, but has no effect at high pressure. At optimal extraction conditions the yield was 0.92% and 0.300 mg total phytosterol g−1 dry material. The extract obtained presented a lipidic composition with possible cardiovascular health benefits due to phytosterols, policosanols and unsaturated fatty acids found.
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