Supercritical fluid extraction assisted by cold pressing from clove buds: Extraction performance, volatile oil composition, and economic evaluation

Supercritical fluid extraction assisted by cold pressing (SFEAP) is presented for obtaining volatile oil from clove buds at 150 bar, 40 degrees C, and using two torques (40 and 80 N.m). As the best condition, SFEAP with 40 N.m provided an oil yield of 22.19 g/100 g buds containing Eugenol (57.7 wt.%), Eugenyl Acetate (12.6 wt.%), beta-caryophyllene (8.3 wt.%), and alpha-humulene (0.9 wt.%). This paper also presented, for the first time, the economic evaluation of using SFEAP instead of SFE. In the economic approach, 24 scenarios were tested in the terms of cost of manufacturing (COM), which consisted of evaluating the scale of the plant, capital financing, purchasing cost of clove, solvent to feed mass ratio and the extraction techniques. The best scenario indicated a COM of only US$ 13.42/kg oil, whereas approximately 87% of the COM is dependent on the purchase cost of clove and other materials.