Euphausiapacificisanimportantsourceofnaturalastaxanthin.StudieswerecarriedouttoassesstheextractabilityofastaxanthinfromE.pacificusingsubcritical1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane(R134a).Toexaminetheeffectsofmultipleprocessvariablesontheextractionyield,astaxanthinwasextractedundervariousconditionsofpressure(30-150bar),temperature(303-343K),time(10-50min),flowrate(2-10gmin-1),moisturecontent(5.5%-63.61%),andparticlesize(0.25-0.109mm).Theresultsshowedthattheextractionyieldincreasedwithtemperature,pressure,timeandflowrate,butdecreasedwithmoisturecontentandparticlesize.Amaximumyieldof87.74%wasobtainedunderconditionsof100bar,333K,and30minwithaflowrateof6gmin-1andamoisturecontentof5.5%.Thesubstantialastaxanthinyieldobtainedunderlow-pressureconditionsdemonstratesthatsubcriticalR134aisagoodalternativetoCO2forextractionofastaxanthinfromE.pacific.
