Production of all trans-beta-carotene by using impinging flow of supercritical carbon dioxide anti-solvent pulverization

This work investigated column elution chromatography coupled with supercritical anti-solvent precipitation to produce carotenoid rich microsized particulates from microalgal Dunaliella salina species. The extract contained carotenoids ranging from 61.3 mg/gsalina to 72.5 mg/gsalina using ultrasonic stirred ethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran (THF) extraction. When 10 L of ethyl alcohol was employed to elute the THF extract, purity of trans-β-carotene is 823.6 mg/g with a recovery of 86.2%. It was found that the supercritical anti-solvent of THF solution at 160 bar and 318 K produced powdered particulates with a purity of carotenoids above 90%. Subsequently, a central composite response surface design method was used to design supercritical anti-solvent precipitation of carotenoid-rich THF solution. This was accomplished by increasing the pressure from 140 bar to 180 bar and the time from 40 min to 60 min at a feed flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. A CO2 flow rate of 15 L/min and a temperature of 318 K were also used to determine the effects on purity and recovery of trans-β-carotene. The combined process produced micronized precipitates with a mean particle size ranging from 3.5 μm to 19 μm and the purity of trans-β-carotene attained was 926.8 mg/g with a recovery of 54%.