Carbon dioxide extraction of ginseng root hair oil and ginsenosides

This investigation developed a semi-continuous flow process to extract crude oil from ginseng root hair. The extraction conditions were 308-333 K, 10.4-31.2 MPa, with the addition of ethyl alcohol as a co-solvent. Analysis of the content of the extracted crude oil and ginsenosides revealed that carbon dioxide extraction at 31.2 MPa, 333 K, 660 litres CO2, with 6 mole% preload addition of ethanol achieved the closest result to hot water extraction, but remained inferior to ethanol extraction. Analytical results further demonstrated that the amount of crude oil extracted increased with pressure at constant temperature, and only increased with temperature when pressure exceeded 24.2 MPa. Furthermore, the maximum levels of crude oil and ginsenosides, extracted by supercritical carbon dioxide, were 0.1 g per gram of Panax ginseng and 1141 mg per kilogram absorbent, respectively. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.