Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction as a green technology for Chromolaena odorata leaves / Farahhanis Tuah

Relatively previous researches on Chromolaena odorata were undergone by using traditional method such as hydrodistillation and soxhlet extraction methods which have their own disadvantages such as long extraction time and non-solvent free oil extract. Thus, a clean extraction method of Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) method using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (SC-CO2) with ethanol as co-solvent was proposed for the extraction of Chromolaena odorata leaves to produce oil with bioactive components. The SC-CO2 extraction of Chromolaena odorata was studied by using measurement of yield, solubility and component identification. The extraction was conducted at constant CO2 flowrate of 24mL/min and constant ethanol flowrate of 2.4mL/min at extraction time of 60 minutes within a range of temperature (40°C, 45°C and 50°C) and range of pressure (3000, 3500, 4000, 4500 and 5000 psi). The component in Chromolaena odorata oil with the highest oil yield was determined by using Gas Chromotography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The highest extraction oil yield of 51.20% (g oil/ g sample) and solubility of 7.619 mg oil/ g CO2 in SC-CO2 was obtained at pressure 4000psi and temperature 50°C. The component in the oil extract with the highest oil yield was determined where the major components identified were a-cubebene, bicyclo [7.2.0] undec-4-ene, germacrene D and caryophyllene.