Extraction of phospholipids from canola with supercritical carbon dioxide and ethanol

The potential use of supercritical (SC)-CO₂/ethanol mixture for the extraction and fractionation of phospholipids (PL) from flaked canola seeds, canola meal, and acetone insolubles (AI) was investigated. PL extraction was possible when ethanol was used as a cosolvent in SC-CO₂. PL recovery of 20.8% was achieved when canola flakes were extracted at 70°C and 55.2 MPa with SC-CO₂/10%EtOH after iol removal with neat SC-CO₂. Soaking of canola meal with ethanol prior to SC-CO₂/EtOH extraction increased PL recovery to 30.4%. PL content of the extracts increased with decreasing triglyceride concentration in the feed material and increasing amounts of ethanol added to SC-CO₂ or used for soaking. Fractionation of Al gums resulted in extracts containing 50% PL, of which 90% was phosphatidylcholine (PC); but yields were low, even after soaking treatment, due to caking. SC-CO₂/EtOH mixture may be used to extract PC-enriched PL from flaked canola seeds, canola meal, and AI. However, further research is needed to improve extraction efficiency.