Supercritical Anti Solvent Precipitation of Lutein: Influence of Process Parameters

ÁNGEL MARTÍN; FACUNDO MATTEA; FERNANDO MIGUEL; MARÍA JOSÉ COCERO

Ischia

Congreso; 8th Conference on Supercritical Fluids and Their Applications; 2006

University of Salerno – DICA

The Supercritical Anti Solvent (SAS) process has been used to re-crystallize lutein from ethyl acetate solutions. The influence of several process parameters (pressure, temperature, initial concentration, CO2 and solution flowrates) on the shape, size and particle size distribution has been studied. It has been found that the parameter with a stronger influence on particle size is pressure. A change in the particle morphology, from agglomerated micro particles to polygonal crystals, has been observed when the CO2 or solution flow rates were increased. As a result of the precipitation, the purity of the lutein was increased from 75% to over 90%. The results have been compared to these obtained with other carotenoids (β-carotene and lycopene) with similar operating conditions. The different results obtained with these carotenoids have been interpreted with the aid of a phase equilibrium model based on the Peng Robinson Equation of State.