Extraction and Modeling of Lavender Flower Essential Oil Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Essential oil was extracted from lavender flowers (Lavandula Stoechas subspecies Cariensis Boiss) in a semicontinuous system by supercritical CO2. Experiments were carried out in the ranges of 8−14 MPa pressures, 308−323 K temperatures, and 1.092−2.184 × 10-3 kg/min carbon dioxide flow rates. The extraction process was modeled by a quasi-steady-state model as a function of extraction time, flow rate, pressure, and temperature. The model contains only one adjustable parameter, the intraparticle diffusion coefficient (effective diffusivity) De. The model using the best fit of De correlates the data satisfactorily.