Supercritical CO₂ for efficient extraction of high-quality starfish (Asterias rubens) oil

The growing demand for healthy marine lipids and the unmatched supply demand required diversification of their sources. Characterization of starfish oil has shown that it is a new possible source of marine lipids. However, optimized extraction conditions are needed to extract high quality oil. Hence, this study aimed to extract starfish oil using supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO₂) and optimize the extraction process using response surface methodology (RSM). Temperature, pressure, and ethanol flow rate were the most influential parameters for oil extraction. The RSM model predicted 19.40% and 25.40% for extraction yield and phospholipids content respectively at 40 °C, 350 bar, and 2.61 mL/min of ethanol flow rate. The result of validation extraction showed close agreement with the model. Moreover, the oils were characterized by fatty acid composition, peroxide value, free fatty acid, and tocopherol contents. The current study showed that high-quality lipids could be extracted from underutilized species using ScCO₂ extraction.