Applications
Liquefied gases as alternative solvents for green extraction of natural products

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...