SUPERCRITICAL TECHNOLOGY AND PRESSURIZED LIQUIDS AS EMERGING AND SUSTAINABLE METHODS FOR OBTAINING OIL FROM MACAUBA PULP AND KERNELS

SUMMARY: Macaúba (Acrocomia aculeata), a palm native to the Americas, contains 73.85 ± 0.05% oil in the pulp and 57.32 ± 0.58% in the kernel. was studied for oil recovery using two extraction methods: supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) and pressurized liquids (PLE). scCO₂ was applied at 323 K and 30 MPa with a flow rate of 1.5 L/min for 90 minutes. Following this, ethanol and water were used in the PLE stages at 323 K and 20 MPa for 40 minutes each. The extraction process, conducted in a fixed bed with approximately 7 g of sample, lasted a total of 2 hours and 50 minutes. The fatty acid (FA) profile was determined by gas chromatography, and triacylglycerols (TAGs) were analyzed based on FA data. The overall yields of sequential extraction were 61.62% for pulp and 48.84% for kernel. scCO₂ extraction achieved the highest yields, with 51.75% for pulp and 41.36% for kernel. Oils extracted with scCO₂ had higher concentrations of oleic acid (57.06%), palmitic acid (19.01%), and linoleic acid (14.88%) in the pulp, and lauric acid (49.8%) and oleic acid (17.5%) in the kernel. TAG analysis showed predominance of oleic and palmitic acids in the pulp, and lauric and oleic acids in the kernel. Overall, scCO₂ extraction outperformed PLE methods with ethanol and water, providing better yields and higher fatty acid concentrations.