Supercritical fluid extraction of lutein from Scenedesmus cultured in an autotrophical photobioreactor

Innovative Alternative Technologies to Extract Carotenoids from Microalgae and Seaweeds

“…In the supercritical CO 2 extraction of carotenoids, in general, the extraction efficiency increases with CO 2 pressure and temperature up to a optimal level [110,111,112,113,114], nevertheless, this trend is dependent on the combined effect of pressure and temperature [19,112,115,116,117]. In some instances, high CO 2 pressure (>400 bar) has caused lower recovery of carotenoids [108,112], and on the other hand, some researchers have observed a reduction in carotenoid yields at low CO 2 pressure, the latter dependent on the temperature used [107,113].…”

“…While studying the effects of pressure (200–600 bar ) and temperature (32–60 °C), the maximum yield of lutein was recovered at intermediate pressures, except for the extraction at 46 °C where the maximum yield was obtained at 600 bar [112]. Furthermore, a number of studies have shown similar effects of pressure and temperature on the recovery of several carotenoids [107,108,110,111,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121]. …”

Exploring feasible sources for lutein production: food by-products and supercritical fluid extraction, a reasonable combination

“…which does not change when the temperature were increased from 40 to 80°C; instead with propane at 40°C, using pressures between 100 and 150 bar the yield increases from 5.99 to 9.02 % (Skerget et al 2010). Some authors found that ethanol would be a good co-solvent to enhance the extraction efficiency in the SFE operation obtaining 2.210 mg of lutein/g from Scenedesmus cultured in an autotrophical photobioreactor, using 30 % mol of ethanol/CO 2 at 400 bar and 70°C (Yen et al 2012). However in this research were obtained similar results at 400 bar and 85°C, only with CO 2 .…”

“…During the last few years, additional applications for lutein have received considerable interest, especially those related to human health for the prevention of cancer and diseases related to retinal degeneration or to ameliorate the effects of degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (Yen et al 2012).…”

“…This is an important alternative to conventional separation methods, not only because it is faster, and more efficient, but also because it does not require the consumption of large amounts of organic solvents which are both expensive and potentially harmful (Yen et al 2012, Macías-Sánchez et al 2010. Furthermore, SFE can minimize alteration of the carotenoids during the extraction process (Alzate et al 2013).…”