Application of Supercritical Fluid Extraction for the Recovery of Aroma Compounds to be Used in Fast Aged Rum Production

Supercritical CO(2) extraction was used for the recovery of valuable aroma components with application in blending steps for fast aged rum processes. Head Alcohol, Crude and Aged Sugar Cane Spirit process streams were used to firstly quantify different concentrated aroma fractions with interest in food applications. Alcohols ratio, esters composition and carboxylic acids concentration criteria were used to determine the quality of extracts. The economical profitability of this technology was especially evident for Head Alcohol and Aged Sugar Cane Spirit extracts, since the most interesting compounds were concentrated more than 300 times compared to commercial aged rum. Additional experiments were performed in the range 8-15 MPa and 313-333 K to obtain empirical correlations to predict solubility data for further scale-up applications.