Oil Production from De-shelled Aquilaria crassna Seeds Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction

This study examined the use of supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) in the extraction of triglycerides from de-shelled Aquilaria crassna seeds. A central composite response surface methodology was employed to evaluate the effects of pressure, temperature and solvent-to-solid ratio (SSR) on total yield (TY), concentration of triglycerides (C TG) and recovery of triglycerides (R TG). For this experimental design, pressures that ranged from 250 to 350 bar, temperatures that ranged from 313 to 333 K and SSR that ranged from 80 to 120 were investigated for the SC-CO2 extractions of 15 g of powdered de-shelled A. crassna seeds at a CO2 flow rate of 25 mL/min under the supercritical phase. The values of TY, C TG and R TG achieved were 36.89 %, 709.5 mg/g and 95.4 %, respectively, under the conditions of a pressure of 340 bar, a temperature of 333 K and an SSR of 115 obtained from the quadratic fitting models.