Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Lipids

Researchers at the Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia) Department of Chemistry have used supercritical fluid extraction with methanol-modified carbon dioxide to separate polar lipid fractions from crude soybean lecithin. Pure carbon dioxide was used to remove the neutral lipids. The phosphatidyl choline-enriched fraction of the soybean lecithin was the target of this extraction. They isolated and identified six components in the crude soybean lecithin extract.