Supercritical fluid extraction of pupae oil from mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori L.)

Abstract

Oil was extracted from the mulberry silkworm pupae using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). A Central Composite Design of Response Surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the SC-CO2 extraction parameters. The oil yield varied with interaction of pressure, temperature, extraction time and CO2 flow rate. Optimum condition was observed within the variables of temperature from 30°C to 50°C, pressure from 125 bar to 225 bar, extraction time from 60 min to 180 min and CO2 flow rate from 15 g/min to 27 g/min. However, the extraction parameters were found to be optimized at temperature 45°C, pressure 203bar, extraction time of 145 min and CO2 flow rate of 24 g/min. At this optimized condition, the highest oil yield was found to be 30.10 g/100 g. The desirability at optimum operating condition was found to be 0.99. The production cost of oil from mulberry silkworm pupae using supercritical fluid extraction equipment was estimated and benefit cost ratio was found to be 1.57.