The objective of this work was to study the essential oil extraction process of Cymbopogon schoenanthus Spreg with pressured CO2, and to compare the results with a conventional extraction process. The experiment was conducted at 15°C, 66.7 bar and a medium flow rate of 1.23 g CO2/min, in a fixed bed extractor and a dynamic method was adopted for the solubility calculation. The solvent extraction was realized with ethanol in an incubator, followed by a vacuum filtration and solvent evaporation. The composition of the oil was analyzed by a gas chromatography connected to a mass spectrometer. The extraction with CO2 showed a yield of 2.78%, and solubility of 1.48 x 10-2 g oil/ g CO2.
Extraction; Cymbopogon schoenantus