3.5. Effects of tomato peel to seed ratio
The effects of tomato peel to seed ratio on the lycopene and bcarotene
recovery are shown in Fig. 5, which show recovery of
lycopene and b-carotene increased with increasing seed ratio from
50 to 63. Increasing the amount of tomato seed led to an increase
both in oil produced in the extractor as well as, in solvent power
(Brunner, 1994; Sovova´ et al., 2001; Vasapollo et al., 2004). As a result,
recovery significantly increased with an increased amount of
tomato seed. On the other hand, increasing the seed to peel ratio
from 63 to 75 significantly decreased the recovery. This could be
due to higher extraction of seed oil which may have hindered
supercritical CO2 transport to penetrate into the solid matrix.
Moreover, the effect of vegetable oil as an entrainer is limited
due to its low solubility in CO2 (Sovova´ et al., 2001). Furthermore,
the recovery was significantly decreased.