Supercritical CO2 extraction of Plumula nelumbinis oil was investigated at temperatures of 308-338 K and pressures of 15-45MPa. The yield of the extracted oil was 0.128g/g material at optimal conditions, in which gamma-sitosterol, unsaturated fatty acids and gamma-tocopherol had higher relative concentrations as determined by CC-MS. The broken and intact cell (BIC) model, with reduced adjustable parameters. was utilized to simulate the SFE process. The values of average absolute relative deviation (AARD) were in the range 2.34-10.9%, indicating that the improved method had a similar effect to the BIC model when three parameters were adjusted. The parameters obtained during the modeling had clear physical meanings and were used to gain an in-depth understanding of the SFE process theoretically. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.