Extraction of essential oil and lipids from nutmeg by liquid carbon dioxide

Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houttuyn) was extracted with liquid carbon dioxi de at 90 bar and 23.0 degrees C. The seed is rich in essential and fatty oi ls, with myristicin and myristic acid being the characteristic compounds in each group respectively. Coextraction of essential oil and fatty oil was o bserved, and extraction curves for each were obtained. Chromatographic anal yses of essential and fatty oils were performed. The effects of particle size and solvent flow rate in extraction yield and velocity were studied. It was demonstrated that extraction yield can be gre atly improved by a reduction in particle size. The extraction rate could be enhanced during the second period of extraction via an increase in solvent flow rate. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.W. All rights reserved.