The invention belongs to the technical field of
fine chemical engineering, and particularly relates to a preparation method of
canthaxanthin. The preparation method comprises the following steps: adding a catalyst and beta-
carotene into a reaction
solvent, adjusting the pH value of the solution to be acidic, pre-cooling the reaction solution, circularly injecting the reaction solution into a
chromatographic column filled with oxidant particles through a
peristaltic pump, returning to a
reaction system, controlling the temperature of the circulating solution, washing with water after the reaction is finished, and
drying to obtain beta-
carotene. And after standing and layering, carrying out reduced pressure
distillation on the obtained organic phase to separate the
solvent, carrying out
isomerization reaction, filtering, and recrystallizing to obtain
canthaxanthin. According to the preparation method disclosed by the invention, the cis-isomer content is low in the reaction process, the
isomerization reaction time is short, the efficiency is high, and the obtained
cantharidin product is high in quality, less in residual inorganic salt and less in washing
wastewater, and is more environment-friendly.