SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE EXTRACTION OF
CHAMOMILE EXTRACTS: MODELLING AND COMPARISON WITH
OTHER METHODS
MARKO Stamenic, ANA Cvetkovic, JASNA Ivanovic, IRENA Zizovic
Department of Organic Chemical Technology, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy,
Karnegijeva 4, 11120 Belgrade, Serbia
stamena@tmf.bg.ac.yu
Abstract
The aim of this work is isolation of Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) extracts by using
supercritical carbon dioxide, and comparison of obtained results with those of other methods
of extraction. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was carried out with grounded Chamomile
flowers in Autoclave Engineers Screening System. Experiments were performed at 10 MPa
and 40ºC, as well as on 20 MPa and 40ºC. The obtained yields were 1.91 and 2.77 %
respectively. In order to model the process of supercritical fluid extraction, previously derived
model on the basis of secretory structures was applied on experimental results. The model
described the SFE experimental results with high accuracy.
In order to compare yields obtained by supercritical extraction with those from conventional
methods, additional experiments were carried out: extraction on Soxlet apparatus with 96%
ethanol, and ultrasound assisted extraction, also using 96% ethanol as solvent. The yields in
these experiments were 3.3 and 9.36 % respectively. The reason for higher yields is in the fact
that ethanol isn’t as selective as supercritical carbon dioxide on selected operating conditions.