Economical viability of SFE from peach almond, spearmint and marigold Original Research Article

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) applies near critical carbon dioxide (CO2) for the extraction of aromatic and bioactive products such as peach (Prunus persica) almond oil, spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) essential oil and marigold (Calendula officinalis L., Asteraceae) oleoresin. Due to the cost intensive nature of SFE, the estimation of process cost is necessary to appraise operation viability. Therefore, this work evaluated the economical viability of SFE from peach almond, spearmint leaves and marigold flowers, as a function of process parameters, using extraction data from the literature. The costs were determined by the software Tecanalysis, considering the specific costs to be equal to the market value of the oils. The results show that SFE from peach almond for 30 min in a 2 × 400 L extraction unit and from spearmint at 300 bar are lucrative processes. SFE from marigold was not economically viable, probably because of the imprecise operational parameters assumed.