Lampante olive oil refining with supercritical carbon dioxide

Abstract

Lampante olive oil has been treated in a supercritical CO 2 extraction plant operating in a continuous countercurrent mode. We report the results of a systematic investigation to define the optimal operative parameters. We also have examined the compositional variation of lampante olive oil samples with different characteristics and of different geographic origins before and after refining at optimal conditions. Although practical feasibility of the proposed procedure can be questioned, the results demonstrate the possibility of fractionating components contained in the starting oil even if present at trace levels.