4. Applications

With the recent resurgence of interest in liquefied gas extraction, industrial applications are still confidential. However, since the end of the 2000s, more than a hundred studies have been carried out, resulting in a more abundant bibliography.

Since 1950, publications on the use of liquefied gases as an extraction solvent have described processes using mainly :

• liquefied petroleum gases (propane, n-butane and LPG), chemically similar to hexane;

• dimethyl ether, miscible with water and capable of extracting a wide range of compounds;

• tetrafluoroethane, which is non-flammable and more selective.

Given the characteristics of each solvent, studies focus on the extraction of lipophilic molecules, in particular the extraction...