Production of apple flavor concentrates by high pressure extraction with carbon dioxide

A carbon dioxide high pressure extraction process has been developed allowi ng to produce highly enriched flavor concentrates from low concentrated aqu eous flavor solutions at very low temperatures stress. The process was deve loped in two steps: First of all a comparatively simple autoclave unit was used to find appropriate temperature and pressure conditions for extraction and extract precipitation, Subsequently continuous extraction experiments were performed in a counter current extraction column, to detect suitable s olvent ratios. Extraction conditions of 80 bar/30 degreesC applying a solve nt ratio of 2 were found to be favorable to concentrate an aqueous apple fl avor solution with a flavor content of approx. 3 parts per thousand. Precip itation yields 0.5% extract, two-third of which can be separated as an oil phase containing 60-70% flavor compounds.