Supercritical CO₂ extraction of red butterfly wing leaves: process parametric study towards extraction yield

¹ Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 13500 Permatang Pauh, Penang, Malaysia
² Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: azahar.ariff@ppinang.uitm.edu.my

Abstract

This research illustrates the parametric studies for determining the relationship between the operating parameters used in the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and the extraction yield of Red Butterfly Wing (RBW) leaves. In this study, SFE used carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the main solvent and ethanol as the co-solvent. SFE was operated by manipulating few parameters such as temperature, pressure and also particle size in order to determine the extraction yield. The RBW leaves were purchased from the local supplier and then undergone cleaning, drying, grinding as well as sieving processes. 5 grams of grinded leaves was then run through SFE machine. For the temperature, it was observed that the extraction yield increased starting from 40°C to 50°C and dropped after that. The optimum temperature was 50°C with extraction yield of 2.94%. For the pressure, the trend of the extraction yield was directly proportional to the pressure. As the pressure increased, the extraction yield also increased. The optimum extraction yield was 2.45 % at 375 bar. Meanwhile, the particle size was inversely proportional to the extraction yield. The optimum extraction yield was 3.26 % at 63 μm.