Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is one of the relatively new efficient separation method for the extraction of essential oils from different plant materials. The new products, extracts, can be used as a good base for the production of pharmaceutical drugs and additives in the perfume, cosmetic, and food industries. The aim of this work was to analyze the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SC-CO2) of oils from the selected spice plant materials. In this paper the process parameters such as pressure, temperature, solvent flow rate, size of grinding materials, and ratio of the co-solvent were presented for the selected spice plant materials: black pepper, caraway, celery, cinnamon, clove, coriander, daphne, fennel, ginger, hyssop, juniper, lavender, oregano, pennyroyal, red pepper, safflower, sage, turmeric, and vanilla. The values of operating conditions were: pressure from 7.5 to 68 MPa, temperature from 293 to 363 K, solvent flow rate from 0.003 to 30.0 kg/h, and diameter of grinding material from 0.17 to 3.90 mm. The global yield and quality of the extracts all of the plant material investigated, as well as the possibility of their application in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries were analyzed. The composition of the extracts was wery complex, and in every case the extract was composed of more than 200 components. All the compounds from the CO2 extracts were classified in the following groups: monoterpene, sesquiterpene, oxygenated monoterpene, and oxygenated sesquiterpene and other hydrocarbon groups. In some of the systems investigated the different mathematical models (Sovová, Hong), which have taken from the literature, were used to correlate the experimental data.

The multiobjective optimization method was applied in order to improve the droplet size distribution and stability of water-in-oil emulsions composed of sunflower and pumpkin seed oils as continuous phase, polyglycerol polyricinoleate as emulsifier, water as dispersed phase and sodium chloride as co-stabilizer (lipophobe). Three composition factors were varied based on the three level Box-Behnken design and three characteristics of the obtained emulsions were measured for each experimental run. The mean volume diameter of water droplets and the span of the droplet size distribution, both determined immediately upon preparation of the emulsion, as well as the stability index over a three-month period were interrelated by regression functions with the surfactant concentration, oil composition and the salt content in the water phase of the emulsion. Also, the fourth objective function based on a difference in the prices of pumpkin seed and sunflower oils was considered for optimization. The multiobjective optimum was calculated by using the minimal loss method with weight factors.

Waxes, phospholipids, free fatty acids, peroxides, aldehydes, soap, trace metals and moisture present in crude sunflower oil have a negative effect on the oil quality and are, therefore, removed during the refining process. Waxes crystallizing at low temperatures are removed during winterization by cooling and filtration. Waxes have poor filtration characteristics and an industrial filtration process must be enhanced by the use of filtration aids, which improve filter cake structure and properties, and consequently prolong the filtration cycle. Today, traditional filtration aids (diatomite, perlite, etc.) being used in the industry are frequently replaced by cellulose-based aids. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of oil filtration assisted by two cellulose-based filtration aids on the chemical parameters (wax, moisture, phospholipids, soaps, and fatty acids), oil transparency, carotenoids, and Fe and Cu content of sunflower oil obtained in an industrial horizontal pressure leaf filter. In order to investigate the mentioned parameters, the following techniques were used: gravimetric (waxes and moisture content), spectrophotometric (phospholipids and carotenoid content and oil transparency), volumetric (soaps and free fatty acids content) as well as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for Fe and Cu content. An artificial neural network model (ANN) was employed for the prediction of removal efficiency based on the chemical quality, oil transparency, Fe and Cu content in oils before filtration, as well as filtration aid quantity and filtration time. Cellulose-based filtration aids had multiple beneficial effects; on average, 99.20% of waxes, 74.88% of phospholipids, 100% of soap, 7.99% of carotenoids, 16.39% of Fe and 18.33% of Cu were removed.

This work provides a review of hydrodynamic characteristics such as the slip velocity, the dispersed-phase holdup, mean drop size, and axial dispersion of non-mechanically agitated liquid-liquid (L-L) extractors, with special reference to spray and packed bed columns. The complexity and importance of hydrodynamic behavior in designing and scaling up L-L extractors was a driving force to analyze, compare and discuss some important experimental findings available in the literature. The effects of phase velocities and the dispersed-phase holdup on the slip velocity, the mean drop size and the axial dispersion coefficient were studied and presented. Empirical correlations for slip velocity, the Sauter mean drop diameter and the axial dispersion coefficient, which were taken from the literature, were commented in terms of their applicability.