Author(s)

Kamalpreet Kaur, Uma Shanker Shivhare, Santanu Basu, G. S. Vijaya Raghavan

Department of Bioresource Engineering; Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada..
University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.

β-carotene acts as an antioxidant and is receiving growing interest due to its ability as protecting agent against heart diseases, cancer and strengthening effect on red blood cells. The main aim of this work was to study the kinetics of the supercritical fluid extraction of β-carotene from tray dried carrots at 40℃, 50℃ and 55℃ and 30, 35 and 40 MPa at SC-CO2 flow rate of 2.0 L/min for extraction time of up to 6 h. It was observed that the concentration of β-carotene in the extract increased with pressure, temperature and extraction time. The results indicated that yield was found to be maximum at 45℃ and 35 MPa at 2 L/min SC-CO2 flow rate. Concentration of β-carotene in the extract increased with SC-CO2 flow rate. Weibull distribution model described adequately the kinetics of extraction of β-carotene from carrots.

β-Carotene; Kinetics; Supercritical Fluid Extraction; Carrots; Weibull Distribution Model

K. Kaur, U. Shivhare, S. Basu and G. Raghavan, "Kinetics of Extraction of β-Carotene from Tray Dried Carrots by Using Supercritical Fluid Extraction Technique," Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 3 No. 5, 2012, pp. 591-595. doi: 10.4236/fns.2012.35081.