Supercritical CO 2 was used to desorb bergamot peel oil from silica gel. The influence of pressure, CO 2 flow rate and solute loading on the desorption process was studied. The maximum desorption selectivity was obtained operating at 40°C, in two successive pressure steps. The first step was performed at 75 bar and produced the selective desorption of hydrocarbon terpenes; the second one was performed at 200 bar and assured the fast desorption of oxygenated compounds. The supercritical desorption was modelled by the integration of mass balances written on a differential section of the desorption bed for the two major families forming bergamot peel oil: hydrocarbon terpenes and oxygenated terpenes. A fair good fitting of the experimental data was obtained assuming that equilibrium conditions were obtained during the supercritical desorption process.