Process for the extraction of oil containing vegetable materials

Abstract

A process for the extraction of oils from oil-containing solid vegetable material by means of compressed gases, wherein said vegetable material is extracted with a mixture consisting of a supercritical gas and a subcritical entraining agent selected from the group consisting of propane, butane, pentane, ethanol, ethyl acetate, formaldehydedimethylacetal, CHF.sub.2 Cl and mixtures thereof, wherein the conditions of pressure, temperature and composition are selected so as to form a single fluid phase in said mixture of oil, supercritical gas and subcritical entraining agent, said extraction resulting in a loaded extractant which is separated from the extracted material in a separator and converted into an oil-rich liquid phase and a gaseous oil-exhausted phase in a regenerator by temperature increase and/or pressure decrease and said oil-rich phase and said oil-exhausted phase are separated and the oil-rich phase is pressure relieved, whereupon, if desired, the entraining agent remaining in the obtained oil is recovered.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.