Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of lutein from marigold(Tagetes erect L.)

Lutein was extracted from marigold(Tagetes erecta L.) with supercritical CO₂. The effects of moisture, particle size of the material and the process parameters, such as extraction temperature, pressure, solvent flow rate, extraction time, separation temperature and pressure on the yield of lutein were investigated. The results demonstrate that the better extraction parameters are as follows: extraction pressure 30 MPa, extraction temperature 60℃, temperature of 40℃ and pressure of 6 MPa in separator Ⅰ, temperature of 20℃ in separator Ⅱ, material moisture 10.92%, particle size of material 40 mesh, solvent flow rate 15 L/h and extracting time 6 h.