Isolation of a volatile concentrate of caraway seed

A volatile concentrate of caraway seeds was isolated by supercritical CO2 e xtraction coupled to a fractional separation technique. GC/MS analysis of t he various fractions obtained at different extraction and fractionation con ditions allowed the identification of the operating conditions to isolate t he volatile concentrate. A good extraction performance was obtained operating at 90 bar and 50 degre esC. The optimum fractionation was achieved by operating at 90 bar and -12 degreesC in the first separator and at 10 bar and 17 degreesC in the second . The influence of the extraction time on the composition was evaluated. A co mparison with the hydrodistilled oil was also proposed.