Development of a new scale-up equation to obtain Tucumã-of-Pará (Astrocaryum vulgare Mart.) oil rich in carotenoids using supercritical CO2 as solvent

With the growing worldwide demand for products and wealth generation, arises the need to invest in new sustainable process and engineering practices for scale-up. Thus, the aims of this work was to obtain Tucumã-of-Pará oil rich in carotenoids using supercritical CO2 and apply a new scale-up equation. Therefore, two isotherms and three pressures were used (40 °C, 60 °C, 150 bar, 250 bar, and 400 bar). In the optimized condition a kinetic study was conducted, followed by the application of a new equation based on Buckingham π theorem. The highest extraction yield (31.49 ± 0.04%) was obtained at 60 °C, 400 bar with high concentration of oleic acid. The highest carotenoids concentration (1351.8 ± 0.02 µg/g) was obtained at 40 °C, 400 bar. The developed process was efficient to obtain oil rich in carotenoids and the Buckingham π theorem elucidated a new scale-up equation with dimensionless properties.