First, the effects of the presence of tomato seed oil in the extraction
process were investigated. Tomato seeds were mixed with tomato
peel at the ratio of 63/37 (seeds/peel). Seed oil was extracted
by supercritical CO2 in this way, with the oil acting as co-solvent
to enhance the supercritical CO2 solvating power for lycopene and
b-carotene extraction. Fig. 1 shows the effect of the presence of tomato
seed oil on the recovery of lycopene and b-carotene. Recovery
of lycopene and b-carotene was calculated based on that extracted
from tomato peel using soxhlet extraction. The recovery of lycopene
and b-carotene without tomato seed oil as co-solvent was practically
constant at 17.5% and 37%, respectively, from 60 to 180 min
of extraction time. In the presence of tomato seed oil, recovery of
lycopene and b-carotene significantly increased and, after 120 min
of extraction, was practically constant at 46% and 68%, respectively.
This increase in efficiency of lycopene recovery may be attributed to
better solubilization of lycopene and b-carotene in supercritical
CO2/tomato seed oil solvent compared with supercritical CO2 alone.
The presence of tomato seed oil promotes a better transport and
higher solubility of the lycopene and b-carotene from the solid matrix
into supercritical CO2. The solubility of lycopene in vegetable oil