Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of quinoa oil: Study of the influence of process parameters on the extraction yield and oil quality

• Published in: The Journal of supercritical fluids 2018-09, Vol.139, p.62-71
• Main Authors: Benito-Román, Oscar, Rodríguez-Perrino, María, Sanz, María Teresa, Melgosa, Rodrigo, Beltrán, Sagrario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CO2; Oil; Quinoa; Supercritical fluid extraction; Tocopherol
• ISSN: 0896-8446; 1872-8162
• DOI: 10.1016/j.supflu.2018.05.009

[Display omitted] •Supercritical CO2 extraction of quinoa oil has been studied in this work.•Extraction rate was strongly controlled by pressure (20–40 MPa).•SC-CO2 extracted oil was rich in tocopherols, PUFA and had high antioxidant activity.•The Sovovás mathematical model was used to describe the extraction curves.•Oil extracted using SC-CO2 had better quality than hexane extracted oil. The supercritical CO2 extraction of oil from four different quinoa varieties has been studied in this work. For this purpose, the influence of extraction temperature (40–60 °C), pressure (20–40 MPa) and raw material size (250–1000 μm) on the extraction rate has been considered. The extraction rate resulted to be faster the higher the pressure whereas the temperature had less influence on the extraction kinetics. The experimental data were modelled using the Sovova’s kinetic model. The quality of the oil extracted has been evaluated in terms of antioxidant activity (AA), fatty acid profile and tocopherol content. The highest AA was obtained for quinoa oil extracted at 40 MPa and 40 °C; this oil presented high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (63% of the total) and significant amount of tocopherols (2.5 mg/g oil). Quinoa oil extracted using CO2 presented higher antioxidant capacity and tocopherol content than quinoa oil extracted with hexane, regardless the quinoa variety used.