Marisa Fernandes Mendes

Extraction of citronella (Cymbopogon nardus) essential oil using supercritical co2: experimental data and mathematical modeling

Citronella essential oil has more than eighty components, of which the most important ones are citronellal, geranial and limonene. They are present at high concentrations in the oil and are responsible for the repellent properties of the oil. The oil was extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide due to the high selectivity of the solvent. The operational conditions studied varied from 313.15 to 353.15 K for the temperature and the applied pressures were 6.2, 10.0, 15.0 and 180.0 MPa. Better values of efficiency of the extracted oil were obtained at higher pressure conditions. At constant temperature, the amount of extracted oil increased when the pressure increased, but the opposite occurred when the temperature increased at constant pressure. The composition of the essential oil was complex, although there were several main components in the oil and some waxes were presented in the extracted oils above 10.0 MPa. The results were modeled using a mathematical model in a predictive way, reproducing the extraction curves over the maximum time of the process.

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia) nut oil: experiments and modeling

Supercritical CO2 extraction of macadamia nut oil was carried out in a flow apparatus at the following operational conditions: pressures of 10, 15 and 18 MPa; and temperatures of 313 and 353K; a volumetric flow of 1.64 x 10-7 m3.s-1 was used for one hour in each experiment. The efficiency of the extraction process showed to be low. The behaviors of the extraction curves were very similar at all temperatures and the best efficiency value was obtained at 10 MPa. Chromatographic analysis demonstrated the ability of supercritical CO2 to remove some of the main components of the oil: myristic (C14:0), palmitic (C16:0), oleic (C18:1) and linoleic (C18:2) acids, and that higher pressures favoured the removal of lighter components. The extraction process was represented by a simple model based on Langmuir Isotherm, showing a good data fitting.

Optimization of the process of concentration of vitamin e from DDSO using supercritical CO2

The objective of this work was the scientific development of concentration of vitamin E from deodorizer distillate of soybean oil (DDSO) using supercritical CO2. Vitamins and sterols rare produced synthetically, but recently the interest in their extraction from natural sources has increased. Therefore, the motivation behind this work was to concentrate the tocopherols from deodorizer distillate of soybean oil, thereby increasing the value of this by-product, rich in fatty acids, sterols, tocopherols and squalene. The experimental step and the simulation of the process were done in a semi-batch mode using supercritical carbon dioxide. The operational conditions studied were temperatures of 40, 60 and 80oC and pressures from 90 to 350 bar. The best results for concentration factor and efficiency and pressures were achieved in a continuous process where the operational variables were optimized.

Simulation and thermodynamic modeling of the extraction of tocopherol from a synthetic mixture of tocopherol, squalene and CO2

Soybean oil is the most consumed vegetable oil in the world, representing 54% of the total world production. Brazil is the second country in the world that produces and export soybean seeds, almost 20%. One of the most important by-product of the soybean oil is the deodorizer distillate, commonly known as soybean sludge. This residue is rich in many high value compounds as tocopherols, squalene and sterols. Tocopherols are the major components in the deodorized distillated due to their characteristics as an antioxidant agent. So, the objective of this work is to study the concentration of tocopherols presented in this raw material, using the operational conditions obtained from the equilibrium data and using supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent. The deodorizer distillate is a complex mixture of more than 200 components, so a synthetic mixture was chosen to represent the deodorizer distillate. The synthetic mixture used in this work is composed by tocopherols, fatty acids and squalene. The simulation was carried out using ASPEN+ simulator and the LCVM thermodynamic model was used to correlate the available equilibrium data.

FRACIONAMENTO DE ÓLEOS DE CITROS UTILIZANDO FLUIDOS SUPERCRÍTICOS

The objective of this work is to study the fractionation of the citrus oils, especially orange oil. The orange oil is considered to be a mixture of two main components, limonene and linalool, which represent the terpenes and oxygenated group fractions, respectively. The Peng-Robinson equation of state using the van der Waals, with one or two parameters, and Panagiotopoulos and Reid mixing rules, were used to correlate and predict the binary and ternary high pressure phase equilibria of CO2 containing systems . The use of thermodynamic models to predict the phase equilibria allowed to establish the conditions of temperature and pressure, which led to the best results of selectivities and capacities of the extraction.