Investigation of the process of sea-buckthorn berry extraction in a laboratory installation with subcritical carbon dioxide

Currently, there is a significant increase in interest in the complex and waste-free processing of sea-buckthorn with maximum extraction of biologically active substances and the creation of drugs based on them with a certain direction of pharmacological action. One of the ways to obtain biologically active substances is the method of obtaining sea-buckthorn oil. This paper discusses various methods for obtaining sea-buckthorn oil; one of the promising methods with a number of advantages is extraction using subcritical carbon dioxide. The research goal is to develop a model of a subcritical installation for extraction using carbon dioxide, the selection of optimal parameters (pressure and temperature) of subcritical extraction to obtain sea-buckthorn oil. The operation principle of the installation is based on saturation of sea-buckthorn berries with subcritical carbon dioxide; as a result the berry extract is divided into components. The developed installation consists of an extractor and a separator connected to each other by a copper pipeline with shut-off valves and mounted on a frame. The extractor and separator are made in the form of cylindrical cylinders, each one has a flange. A perforated stainless steel cassette is placed in the extractor whereinto the raw materials are loaded. The cassette is tightened with a disc between the extractor flange. The pressure and temperature of the extraction process may be adjusted using installed heating elements. It is found that the optimal pressure for the carbon dioxide extraction process under subcritical conditions is 50 bar. It is found that at this pressure in the process of carbon dioxide extraction under subcritical conditions the obtained sea-buckthorn oil has the highest release of such components as pinenes, myrcene, sabinene, limonene, beta-carotene, vitamin E, vitamin K, palmitic acid, and alpha-linoleic acid.