@misc{9243166,
  abstract     = {{Introduction: 
Extractability of shea oil depends on its solubility and so the feasibility of upscaling the extraction method for industrial purposes can be understood by studying sample solubility.
Background: 
Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is a greener technique than the current hexane extraction method but has not been utilized in shea oil yet and its solubility in supercritical carbon dioxide (sc-CO2) is unknown. 
Aims: 
This work aims to answer the following research questions:
 -How does equilibrium attainment vary with flow rate for shea oil in press cake and as crude?
 -How does oil solubility shift in different sample matrix and when modifying sc-CO2 properties? 
 -How much does solubility of the oil compound classes depend on shifts in sc-CO2 properties?
Methods: 
Crude shea oil and shea press cake were subjected to SFE in dynamic mode followed by gravimetric determination. A Central Composite Face Centered (CCF) Design of Experiment (DoE) at varying sc-CO2 density and temperature was performed, and the crude shea extracts were analyzed with supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled to a charged aerosol detector (CAD) and a trapped ion mobility spectrometer/quadrupole/time of flight mass spectrometer (TIMS/TOF).
Results: 
Equilibrium was established at lower flow rates for shea press cake than for crude shea. Solubility increased with sc-CO2 density and temperature for both sample but press cake yielded higher values under all conditions. SFC/CAD/TIMS/TOF identified some of the expected tri, di, mono-acylglycerides (TG,DG,MG) but couldn’t reliably identify the common free fatty acids (FFA). Finally, it was indicated that the solubility of TG was favored by higher density, DG and MG were unaffected while for FFA it was reduced. 
Conclusion: 
Matrix interference restricted equilibrium establishment at low flow rates while simultaneously facilitating mass transfer increasing the obtained solubility. So did, elevated density and temperature of sc-CO2. Finally, it was implied that elevated density, facilitates solubility increase as polarity of oil’s compound classes decreased.}},
  author       = {{Synefakis, Evangelos}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Solubility study of shea oil and its compound classes in supercritical carbon dioxide with dynamic low flow supercritical fluid extraction}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}