Supercritical fluid extraction of oil from microalga Spirulina(arthrospira) platensis

For the extraction of oil from microalgae, which are recognised as an important renewable source of bioactive lipids, supercritical CO2 is regarded with interest being safer than hexane and offering a negligible environmental impact, short extraction time and petroleum-free final product. A mathematical model, able to describe the kinetics of a supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process, was applied to the recovery of oil from the cyanobacterium Spirulina (Arthrospira) platensis, characterised by a particularly high content in gamma-linolenic acid (C18:3 omega-6). In this paper, we examine the kinetics of the SFE and the effect of operating conditions on extraction yield and fatty acid composition of lipid extracts.