Mutual Solubility Study in Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Tocopherols from Crude Palm Oil Using CO2 Solvent

In this article, the mutual solubility of tocopherols from crude palm oil was studied using carbon dioxide as a solvent at the temperatures of 80, 100 and 120 degrees C. Each sample from the phase equilibrium unit contained two parts. The liquid part was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) in order to measure the tocopherol composition and, on the other hand, the vapor phase was conducted in an expansion vessel in order to measure the pressure increment during the expansion process. Two phase equilibrium data was calculated using the liquid phase composition and pressure increments during the expansion process. Results showed that the maximum solubility of tocopherols was around 2.27% at a temperature of 120 degrees C and at pressure of 5.44 MPa.