Extraction of Natural Vitamin E from Wheat Germ by Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2002-02, Vol.50 (4), p.685-689
• Main Authors: Ge, Yiqiang, Yan, Hong, Hui, Bodi, Ni, Yuanying, Wang, Shaoxiao, Cai, Tongyi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Carbon Dioxide; Cereal and baking product industries; Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid - methods; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Particle Size; Solvents; Triticum - chemistry; Vitamin E - isolation & purification
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf010615v

An efficient supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process with carbon dioxide (SFE-CO2) was developed for the extraction of natural vitamin E (VE) from wheat germ. Both the pretreatment of extracted wheat germ and extraction conditions were optimized to ensure maximal VE yield. The extraction was undertaken at the extracting pressure of 4000−5000 psi, the extracting temperature of 40−45 °C, and the carbon dioxide flow rate of 2.0 mL/min for 90 min. An optimized pretreatment of wheat germ was usually necessary with a particle size of 30 mesh and a moisture content of 5.1%. A yield comparison of VE and its isomers extracted by supercritical CO2 with those by conventional solvent extraction suggested that this SFE process was a practical process prospectively superior to conventional solvent extraction to prepare VE from wheat germ. Keywords: Supercritical fluid extraction; vitamin E; wheat germ