Supercritical CO2 Extraction Process of Ginger Essential Oil

The CO2 extraction process of ginger oleoresin

The optimization process conditions for the extraction of ginger oleoresin that we have carried out are: ginger raw material is cut into thin slices, the moisture content is below 15%, and the extraction conditions are pressure 24Mpa, temperature 40℃, and time 2 h. Under these conditions, the extraction rate of ginger oleoresin is the highest.

What is ginger root CO2 used for?

• Ginger root CO2 essential oil can help with digestive issues and improve overall blood circulation. It can also be added to a carrier oil blend creating a massage oil that is great for joint and muscle aches associated with the wear and tear of normal aging.
• Ginger root CO2 essential oil can help with digestive issues and improve overall blood circulation. It can also be added to a carrier oil blend creating a massage oil that is great for joint and muscle aches associated with the wear and tear of normal aging.
• Ginger root CO2 essential oil can help with digestive issues and improve overall blood circulation. It can also be added to a carrier oil blend creating a massage oil that is great for joint and muscle aches associated with the wear and tear of normal aging.

5 Important Factors for CO2 Extraction of Ginger Oil

Extraction pressure

The most suitable extraction pressure is 24 Mpa.

The pressure of CO2 in the extraction process is one of the most important parameters in the supercritical extraction process. With different extraction pressures, the permeability and solubility of CO2 are quite different. The yield of ginger oleoresin changes significantly with the extraction pressure, but it is not that the higher the pressure, the better, and the components of the oleoresin extracted and separated by different extraction pressures are not the same. It is the highest when the pressure is 24 Mpa. When the extraction pressure is lower than 24 M pa, the extraction rate will continue to increase with the increase of the extraction pressure, but when the pressure exceeds 24 M pa, the extraction rate will gradually decrease.

Extraction temperature

The optimization extraction temperature of ginger oleoresin is 40℃.

Extraction temperature is another important factor for CO2 supercritical extraction. The temperature has a relatively large impact on the dissolution capacity of supercritical fluids. The specific influencing factors are more complicated: the temperature increases, the density of the supercritical fluid decreases, and the extraction capacity decreases; at the same time With the increase in temperature, the volatilization of ginger oleoresin increases, which is beneficial to the extraction process.

Under low-temperature conditions, with the increase of the extraction temperature, the extraction rate continues to rise. When the temperature is 40℃, the extraction rate reaches the highest, and then the extraction gradually decreases. As the extraction temperature increases, the color of the extract gradually darkens, and the pigments in ginger are also extracted.

EXTRACT TIME

The optimal extraction time is 2 h.

The test results show that if the time is too short, such as 1 h, the extraction process will not be completed in time, and the extraction rate will be significantly lower, but when the time exceeds 2 h, the extraction process is basically completed, and the extraction time is further extended, and the improvement of the extraction rate is limited. In actual production no value.
Therefore, the optimal extraction time is 2 h.

Raw material processing method

The processing method of ginger raw material determines the difficulty of CO2 fluid penetration into the raw material. Because ginger contains a large amount of crude fiber, it is difficult to pulverize. Forced pulverization will generate a lot of heat during the pulverization process, causing the essential oil in it to volatilize and cause loss.

Cut the ginger into thin slices and dry it to minimize the loss of volatile oil, and at the same time make the permeation of carbon dioxide in the supercritical extraction process easier.

The test results show that the effect is good. Although the extraction time is relatively prolonged, the extraction yield is higher.

Moisture content

The water content of ginger also has an impact on the carbon dioxide supercritical extraction process, but when the water content is high, there is a large amount of free water and outer bound water in the material, which is easy to form a water film on the surface of the material and is not conducive to the dissolution of substances and the entry of CO2. At the same time, it is easy to agglomerate materials and increases mass transfer resistance, which is not conducive to the extraction process.

When the moisture content is low, there is not enough water on the surface of the material to form a water film, the flow is uniform up and down, and the mass transfer resistance is small, which is conducive to the extraction process.

At the same time, the high water content will also entrain polar substances such as polysaccharides in ginger, which will affect the quality of ginger oleoresin.

The lower the water content of ginger used for supercritical extraction, the better, preferably below 15%.

Ginger oil parameters extracted by CO2 extraction equipment

Supercritical CO2 extraction of ginger essential oil is light yellow, and the yield has increased from about 1% of traditional steam distillation to 4.38%.

The chemical components and relative mass fractions of ginger essential oil obtained under optimal extraction conditions were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. A total of 58 components were separated and 38 of them were identified. The main aroma components are limonene and α-pinene , Camphene, farnesene, β-phellandrene, β-sesquiphellandrene, gingerene, and other alkenes, the main spicy ingredient is 6-gingerol.

3 extraction methods of ginger oil

The main methods for extracting ginger oil products from ginger are steam distillation, solvent extraction, and supercritical CO2 extraction.

Steam distillation

Crush fresh ginger or dried ginger before steaming, and then pass in steam under normal pressure or pressure to distill out the ginger oil at a temperature lower than its boiling point;

Mainly obtain the more volatile essential oil in ginger, and some phenol derivatives such as gingerol, because of its unique molecular structure, it is difficult to steam out with steam;

Only part of the flavor substances in ginger can be extracted, and the high temperature of the distillation process will cause harmful changes in the composition, smell, and flavor of ginger oil;

Solvent extraction

The chemical composition of the ginger oil obtained by the solvent extraction method has a lot to do with the selected solvent, but the solvent method is susceptible to residual solvent contamination and precipitation discoloration and its use are limited.

CO2 extraction

Modern ginger essential oil uses supercritical CO2 extraction to extract the ginger essential oil, which uses CO2 as a solvent to extract ginger essential oil from ginger in a supercritical state.

The ginger essential oil prepared by CO2 extraction has a wide variety of aroma components, including 38 ingredients. The main aroma components are: limonene (2.09%), α-pinene (1.90%), camphene (5.08%), farnesene (28.4%). %), β-phellandrene (4.10%), β-sesquiphellandrene (31.3%), gingerene (5.32%), caryophyllene (2.02%), and other olefins, the main spicy ingredient is 6-ginger Alcohol (1.04%).

The ginger essential oil has a pure and natural aroma, complete flavor, and stable quality. It retains the flavor components of ginger to the maximum extent and is a highly concentrated product with the original flavor.

BIT can customize the supercritical CO2 ginger oil extraction machine with a capacity from 10L to 4500L. Feel free to contact me.