The aim of this work was to test the feasibility of the use of supercritical carbon dioxid for extraction and concentration of tocopherols from soybean sludge at temperatures of 80ºC and pressures of 76 bars to remove interfereres during pre-extraction, and 50ºC at 197 bars to extract tocopherols. An octadecyl-silici trap, washed with acetonitrile after pre-extraction following by hexane after extraction was used. The analysis of extracts was checked by capillary gas chromatography. The results showed that soybean sludge initially containing about 9.2% of tocopherols could be enriched to about 40.6%. Under optimized conditions the extraction was performed in 37 minutes. The content of tocopherols in the extracts collected was checked by capillary gas chromatography.
soybean sludge; supercritical extraction; gas chromatography
