Optimisation of biological and physical parameters for lycopene supercritical CO2 extraction from ordinary and high-pigment tomato cultivars

Lycopene is used for several industrial applications. Supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) extraction from red-ripe tomato fruits is an excellent technique to replace the use of harmful solvents. In this study, starting from red-ripe tomatoes of ordinary and high-lycopene cultivars, the effect of different agronomical and technical aspects on lycopene content, stability and yield was evaluated throughout the production process from fresh tomatoes to the final SC-CO2-extracted oleoresin containing lycopene.