The aim of this work was to study and to optimise new extraction
methods for obtaining carminic acid from cochineal, comparing
them with conventional extraction methods and studying the
effect of several operation variables: extraction temperature, pH
and solvent type. These new methods have been developed with
the intention of reducing the allergenic protein content in this
dye originating from the insects themselves. In addition, we have
studied the stability of carminic acid extracted. Several lakes were
prepared from carminic acid extracted and the possibility of
replacing salt with the less polluting alumina was studied to obtain
different lake colours.