Kiwi-fruit seed oil contains abundant of a-linolenic acid and other unsaturated fatty acids. The contained a-linolenic acid in the oil is reported as *7~*2%. It is a newly developed product in the market for the functions of adjusting HDL, antioxidation, and preventing coronary heart disease. This study use supercritical carbon dioxide to extract the seed oil in a pilot plant. The effects of operation condition on the yield of oil were investigated, which included the temperature (ranged at *5-*0 oC), pressure (*0-*5 MPa), flow rate of carbon dioxide (*5-*2 kg/h), the size of the grounded seeds (*0-**0 mesh), and the loaded amount of the sample in the extractor (2.6-3.0 kg per batch). The a-linolenic acid content in the extracted oil was also analyzed by GC. This study provides useful engineering information for the extraction of kiwi-fruit seed oil by supercritical carbon dioxide.
