Extraction of Garlic with Supercritical Co2 and Conventional Organic Solvents

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) and garlic extracts have therapeutical properties that stem from their sulfur-containing compounds, mainly allicin. The main objective of this work was to compare conventional and “premium” garlic extracts in terms of yield and quality, with the latter being obtained using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) as the solvent. Yield ranged between 0.65 and 1.0% and increased with extraction pressure (150-400 bar) at a constant temperature of 50°C. Extraction temperature (35-60°C), on the other hand, had little effect at a constant pressure of 300 bar. Based on yield and quality considerations, the best extraction conditions using SC-CO2 were 35-50°C and 300-400 bar. A yield of 5.5% was obtained by conventional extraction using ethanol as the solvent, but ethanol appeared to be less selective for valuable components than SC-CO2. The use of fresh garlic resulted in extracts that more closely resembled commercial products, possibly because of thermal and oxidative degradation of valuable microconstituents during drying.