Lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis with supercritical carbon dioxide extraction 1: Influence of flow rate

A combined process of lipase (E.C. 3.1.1.3) catalysis and extraction of product with supercritical carbon dioxide was studied. The effect of different flow rates of the extraction fluid on the selective removal of the ethyl esters (EE) synthesized in a lipase-catalyzed alcoholysis of cod liver oil with ethanol was investigated. The faster the flow rate, the faster the extraction rate and the higher the recovery of EE. For example, after a 270-min extraction, the total recovery of EE was 1520 mg for a flow rate of 0.3 liter carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure and room temperature/min (NL/min) as compared to 250 mg when 0.015 NL/min was used. The concentration of EE in the carbon dioxide was found to decrease with increasing flow rate, which indicates that the rate of diffusion of EE limits their extraction at fast flow rates. A high flow rate was found to result in a more selective extraction of EE, i.e., less amounts of other lipid components present in the reaction mixture were coextracted with the EE. Further, by increasing the flow rate, the equilibrium of the reaction was shifted slightly toward ester synthesis. An increase in the flow rate from 0.015 to 0.075 NL/min resulted in an approximately 10% increase in total conversion (from 73 to 82%), whereas only a negligible increase was obtained when the flow rate was increased further to 0.15 NL/min.