Significant Enrichment of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) in the Lipids Extracted by Supercritical CO2 from the Livers of Australian Rock Lobsters (Jasus edwardsii).

Australian rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) liver contains approximately 24.3% (w/w) lipids, which can contain a high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). However, this material has been found to be contaminated with arsenic (240 mg/kg) and cadmium (8 mg/kg). The high level of contaminants in the raw material and the large amount of PUFAs in the lipids prove a significant challenge in the extraction of high-quality lipids from this byproduct by conventional methods. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction is a highly promising technology for lipid extraction with advantages including low contamination and low oxidation. The technique was optimized to achieve nearly 94% extraction of lipids relative to conventional Soxhlet extraction in Australian rock lobster liver at conditions of 35 MPa and 50 °C for 4 h. The extracted lipids are significantly enriched in PUFAs at 31.3% of total lipids, 4 times higher than those in the lipids recovered by Soxhlet extraction (7.8%). Specifically, the con...