Speed SFE-2 from Applied Separations, Inc. (USA) was used for
SCCO2 extraction (Fig. 1). The extraction unit can be divided into
three separate parts. Part I consists of a feed pump which compresses
and delivers liquid CO2 to the extraction vessel. Part II comprises
a 24 mL stainless steel extraction vessel installed inside an
oven module. Once the oven is heated, the compressed CO2 enters
the vessel in a supercritical state and performs lipid extraction
from the microalgae. Part III of the unit consists of a heated
micrometering valve to depressurize incoming SCCO2. Once completely
decompressed, CO2 evaporates as gas to the ambient, forcing
the extracted lipid to precipitate out in the adjoining lipid
collection glass vial (Sajilata et al., 2008).