A process based on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) at pilot scale plant has been optimized to obtain fractions highly enriched in vitamin E from microalga Spirulina platensis. The optimization of the main variables involved in the process (extraction pressure and temperature and extraction solvent) has been performed using a surface response methodology. A central composite circumscribed design (CCCD) was employed to study the vitamin E enrichment (in mg/g extract). The parameters of the model were estimated by multiple linear regression (MLR) providing a mathematical model able to predict the concentration of vitamin E as a function of extraction pressure and temperature when neat CO2 was used as extractant. The estimated model demonstrated that the extraction temperature, the quadratic term of temperature, the extracting pressure and the interaction pressure x temperature had a significant effect on the final concentration of vitamin E in the extracts. The optimal conditions for the extraction of vitamin E from Spirulina platensis were achieved working at maximum temperatures being the optimum value predicted 29.4 mg/g extract which implies a tocopherol enrichment of more than 12 times the initial concentration of tocopherol in the raw material. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.