INVESTIGADORES
DIAZ Maria Soledad
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
SELECTION OF THE SUPERCRITICAL SOLVENT IN THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF CITRUS PEEL OIL DETERPENATION PROCESSES
Autor/es:
SUSANA ESPINOSA; MARIA SOLEDAD DIAZ; ESTEBAN A. BRIGNOLE
Lugar:
Pittsburgh, USA
Reunión:
Congreso; ”, 11h International Symposium & Exhibit on Supercritical Fluid Chromatography, Extraction, & Processing; 2004
Resumen:
In this work, process feasibility for the deterpenation of orange peel oil with alternative supercritical solvents has been studied. Citrus peel oils are mixtures of more than 200 components, mainly terpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds, but they can be modeled as binary mixtures of two key components: one representing the terpene fraction (usually limonene) and one for the oxygenated part. In particular, orange peel oil is generally modeled as a binary system composed of limonene and linalool. The use of ethane as supercritical solvent has been studied, as an alternative for the widely used carbon dioxide.   Phase equilibrium predictions with a group contribution equation of state, GC-EOS (Skjold-Jorgensen, 1988), have been compared to available experimental data ((Iwai et al., 1996, Raeissi and Peters, 2002, Morotomi et al., 1999), providing a robust thermodynamic support to simulation and optimization models (Diaz et al., 2003).   Process simulations have been carried out at conditions reported in the literature  and component purity and recovery in the output streams are contrasted against laboratory-scale process results (Budich et al., 1999)..  A nonlinear programming model is proposed for the maximization of net profit, using either ethane or carbon dioxide as supercritical solvent. Process optimization has been performed for the deterpenation of a mixture composed of 98 wt.% limonene and 2 wt % linalool, that closely represents orange peel oil. Several process schemes have been explored, which include single and two-step extraction processes. Optimization results provide operating conditions and equipment size to maximize net profit. Nonlinear optimization results for the different solvents have confirmed the convenience of using carbon dioxide over ethane as supercritical solvent to obtain a high purity aroma concentrate from the oxygenated dilute mixture representing orange peel oil.