The odoriferous species Lippia sidoides Cham. is abundant in the Brazilian Northeast. Its essential oil possesses antiseptic activity due to the presence of thymol. In this work, thermodynamic and kinetic data were experimentally determined for the CO2 + L. sidoides system. Solubility was determined using the dynamic method at pressures of 66.7 and 78.5 bar and temperatures of 283.15, 288.15, 293.15, 295.15, and 298.15 K. SFE kinetic data were obtained at 288.15 K and 66.7 bar. The composition of the multicomponent solute mixture was determined by GC-MS and compared to the composition of both the volatile oil obtained by steam distillation and the oleoresin obtained using ethanol. The SFE process yield was higher than the yield of either the steam distillation or the ethanol extraction. The solubilities were correlated using the Peng-Robinson equation of state with one binary interaction parameter for the attractive term, considering the essential oil as a pseudo-component. Sovová’s model quantitatively described the overall extraction curve.

The objective of this work was to study the recovery of aroma compounds present in the orange essential oil using experimental data from CUTRALE (a Brazilian Industry of Concentrated Orange Juice). The intention was to reproduce the industrial unit and afterwards to optimize the recovery of aroma compounds from orange essential oil by liquid-liquid extraction. The orange oil deterpenation was simulated using the commercial software PRO/II 4.0 version 1.0. The UNIFAC model was chosen for the calculation of the activity coefficients.

Stevia leaves are an important source of natural sugar substitute. There are some restrictions on the use of stevia extract because of its distinctive aftertaste. Some authors attribute this to soluble material other than the stevia glycosides, even though it is well known that stevia glycosides have to some extent a bitter taste. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to develop a process to obtain stevia extract of a better quality. The proposed process includes two steps: i) Pretreatment of the leaves by SCFE; ii) Extraction of the stevia glycosides by SCFE using CO2 as solvent and water and/or ethanol as cosolvent. The mean total yield for SCFE pretreatment was 3.0%. The yields for SCFE with cosolvent of stevia glycosides were below 0.50%, except at 120 bar, 16°C, and 9.5% (molar) of water. Under this condition, total yield was 3.4%. The quality of the glycosidic fraction with respect to its capacity as sweetener was better for the SCFE extract as compared to extract obtained by the conventional process. The overall extraction curves were well described by the Lack extended model.

One of the most important byproducts of the orange juice industry is the oil phase. This is a mixture of terpenes, alcohols, and aldehydes, dissolved in approximately 96% limonene. To satisfactorily use oil phase as an ingredient in the food and cosmetics industries separation of the limonene is required. One possibility is to use a fixed bed of silica gel to remove the light or aroma compounds from the limonene. The aroma substances are then extracted from the bed of silica gel using supercritical carbon dioxide. This work deals with the modeling of the desorption step of the process using mass balance equations coupled with the Langmuir equilibrium isotherm. Data taken from the literature for the overall extraction curves were used together with empirical correlations to calculate the concentration profile of solute in the supercritical phase at the bed outlet. The system of equations was solved by the finite volume technique. The overall extraction curves calculated were in good agreement with the experimental ones.

The pupunha (Guilielma speciosa) is the fruit of a palm tree typical of the Brazilian Northern region, whose stem is used as a source of heart of palm. The fruit, which is about 65% pulp, is a source of oil and carotenes. In the present work, an analysis of the kinetics of supercritical extraction of oil from the pupunha pulp is presented. Carbon dioxide was used as solvent. The extractions were carried out at 25 MPa and 323 K and 30 MPa and 318 K. The chemical composition of the extracts in terms of fatty acids was determined by gas chromatography. The amount of oleic acid, a saturated fatty acid, in the CO2 extracts was larger than that in the extract obtained with hexane. The overall extraction curves were modeled using the single-parameter model proposed in the literature to describe the desorption of toluene from activated coal.