Experimental results for the extraction of essential oil from Lippia sidoides cham. using pressurized carbon dioxide

The odoriferous species Lippia sidoides Cham. is abundant in the Brazilian Northeast. Its essential oil possesses antiseptic activity due to the presence of thymol. In this work, thermodynamic and kinetic data were experimentally determined for the CO2 + L. sidoides system. Solubility was determined using the dynamic method at pressures of 66.7 and 78.5 bar and temperatures of 283.15, 288.15, 293.15, 295.15, and 298.15 K. SFE kinetic data were obtained at 288.15 K and 66.7 bar. The composition of the multicomponent solute mixture was determined by GC-MS and compared to the composition of both the volatile oil obtained by steam distillation and the oleoresin obtained using ethanol. The SFE process yield was higher than the yield of either the steam distillation or the ethanol extraction. The solubilities were correlated using the Peng-Robinson equation of state with one binary interaction parameter for the attractive term, considering the essential oil as a pseudo-component. Sovová’s model quantitatively described the overall extraction curve.