Optimizing the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Hibiscus Flower Essential Oil using Response Surface Analysis

Abstract

The development of Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) has opened the door to the harvesting of plants for a wide range of chemical compounds. This study distilled essential oil from hibiscus flowers utilizing the supercritical CO2 method. Different extraction parameters, including pressure (100-300 bar) and temperature (300-350 K), were studied to visualize how they affected oil recovery. Response surface analysis was used to fine-tune the extraction process. The chemical composition of the recovered oil was analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). According to the findings, 13.11% per 80 g of dry flowers is the ideal oil extracted from Hibiscus flowers, using SFE at 200 bar pressure and 325 K extraction temperature. Six compounds were provisionally identified in the extracted oil from hibiscus flowers under optimum SFE conditions.