Process optimisation in sunflower oil extraction by supercritical CO2

A continuous process for the extraction of sunflower oil using supercritical CO₂, featuring multiple extractors, one oil separator and three cascaded CO₂ recovery vessels operating at different pressures, was devised and studied. For every single equipment of the plant making up the process a mathematical model was built. Experimental tests—consisting in measurements of oil solubility in supercritical CO₂—were carried out in a laboratory-scale apparatus to characterise the behaviour of sunflower oil in the separation from the supercritical fluid. The mathematical model of the whole process was coded in the commercial gPROMS process modelling environment where both its simulation and optimisation—this latter assuming the overall oil production cost as the objective function—were carried out. The process- and economics-related results are discussed and compared with those obtained with traditional and cold-pressing extraction.