The extraction curves of cardamom oleoresin were obtained
by plotting the solvent/solid ratio versus extract yield (g/100 ground seeds). At a constant temperature, the applied pressure
affected oil solvating capacity of SC-CO2 (Fig. 1). At a constant
pressure, the extraction curves can be characterized by an initial
steep linear increase of oil solubility as a function of increased
volume of solvent passing through the sample in the extractor.
Then the curve reaches a plateau and approaches the maximum
yield of. The tangent of the straight line gives the equilibrium
solubility of cardamom oil in SF-CO2 in terms of g extract/100 g
CO2. The values estimated for equilibrium solubility were 7.4,
5.7 and 4.6 when the extraction was performed at 308K and 30,
20 and 10MPa, respectively.