Supercritical fluid extraction

Supercritical fluids, mainly carbon dioxide CO ₂ under pressure (100-400 bar) and at near-ambient temperature (30-60 C), are the subject of intense interest, as their specific physico-chemical properties open up a wide range of possible applications:

• extraction from solids and fractionation of liquid feedstocks are mainly used for applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, where the exceptional qualities of carbon dioxide are leading to numerous developments. Large-scale liquid and solid waste treatment facilities are also in operation or under development;

• supercritical eluent chromatography is emerging as an almost indispensable complement to high-performance gas and liquid chromatography, while industrial development of the process on a preparative scale is underway;

• The field of materials is currently undergoing multiple developments: polymer processing and purification/fractionation, manufacture of very fine powders, fibers, liposomes, microencapsulation, coatings and paints, porous media (foams, aerogels, ceramics), impregnation of various matrices (polymers, paper, wood, etc.);

• A number of chemical reactions are already being carried out on a very large scale under supercritical conditions, and the implementation of biochemical reactions in a supercritical solvent opens up many new horizons for enzymatic reactions;

• surprising applications for supercritical fluids in biology: cell lysis, sterilization, viral inactivation.