[Objective] Ginger essential oil （GEO） is widely used in food production and medical field in recent years due to its prominent biological functions, and this study was conducted to obtain high-quality and high-purity ginger essential oil from the fresh ginger. [Method] GEO was extracted from ginger roots by supercritical fluid extraction （SFE） method. The effects of flow rate of CO2, mesh size of ginger powder and volume of entrainer were investigated by single-factor experiments and response surface method. The content and extraction rate of 6-gingerol represented the extraction index of GEO. [Result] The conditions were optimized as follows： flow rate of CO2 at 25 L/h, mesh size of ginger power of 80 mesh, and volume of anhydrous ethanol as entrainer of 92.46 ml. The optimal extraction rate of 6-gingerol was 3.21%, which was predicted by RSM. [Conclusion] The optimal process of supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of ginger essential oil was identified by singlefactor experiments and response surface method. The present study provides a satisfactory method for purifying GEO from ginger for industrial purpose.
