Ultrasound-Enhanced Subcritical CO2 Extraction of Lutein from Chlorella pyrenoidosa

Lutein is an important pigment of Chlorella pyrenoidosa with many beneficial functions in human health. The main purpose of this study was to extract lutein from C. pyrenoidosa using ultrasound-enhanced subcritical CO2 extraction (USCCE). Effects of operating conditions on the extraction, including extraction pretreatment, temperature, pressure, time, CO2 flow rate, and ultrasonic power, were investigated, and an orthogonal experiment was designed to study the effects of extraction pressure, temperature, cosolvent amount, and time on the extraction yields. The USCCE method was compared with other extraction methods in terms of the yields of lutein and the microstructure of C. pyrenoidosa powder by scanning electron microscopy. A maximal extraction yield of 124.01 mg lutein/100 g crude material was achieved under optimal conditions of extraction temperature at 27 °C, extraction pressure at 21 MPa, cosolvent amount at 1.5 mL/g ethanol, and ultrasound power at 1000 W. Compared to other methods, USCCE could significantly increase the lutein extraction yield at lower extraction temperature and pressure. Furthermore, the kinetic models of USCCE and subcritical CO2 extraction (SCCE) of lutein from C. pyrenoidosa were set as E = 130.64 × (1 - e(-0.6599t)) and E = 101.82 × (1 - e(-0.5683t)), respectively. The differences of parameters in the kinetic models indicate that ultrasound was able to enhance the extraction process of SCCE.