Supercritical Fluid Extraction
Supercritical Fluid Extraction
A Seminar report
On
Supercritical fluid extraction
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Mahima Baid
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Content
• Introduction
• Supercritical fluid
• Properties of supercritical fluid
• Solvents
• Modifiers
• Supercritical fluid extraction
• SFE resembles solvent extraction
• Flow sheet
• Parts of SFE
• Preparation and collection
• Procedure
• Modes of extraction
• Applications
• Optimization
• Advancement
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Conclusion
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SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTION
INTRODUCTION
Supercritical fluid extraction is the most effective and efficient way to
extract valuable constituent botanicals. Supercritical Fluid Extraction
(SFE) is the process of separating one component (the extractant)
from another (the matrix) using supercritical fluids that is CO2 as the
extracting solvent. CO2 is the king of extraction solvents for
botanicals. Extraction conditions for supercritical CO2 are above the
critical temperature of 31°C and critical pressure of 74 bar.
Supercritical fluids are highly compressed gases, which have
combined properties of gases and liquids in an intriguing manner.
Supercritical fluids can lead to reactions, which are difficult or even
impossible to achieve in conventional solvents. It is a fast process
completed in 10 to 60 minutes. A supercritical fluid can be separated
from analyte by simply releasing pressure, leaving almost no trace
and yields a pure residue.
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Extraction can be defined as the removal of soluble material from an
insoluble residue, either liquid or solid, by treatment with a liquid
solvent. It is therefore, a solution process and depends on the mass
transfer phenomena. The controlling factor in the rate of extraction is
normally the rate of diffusion of the solute through the liquid
boundary layer at the interface. Extraction involves the separation of
medicinally active portions of plant or animal tissue from the inactive
or inert components using selective solvents in standard extraction
procedures. The products so obtained from plants are relatively
impure liquids, semisolids or powders intended only for oral or
external use.
So extraction continues to be of considerable interest in order to
obtain improved yields of drug derived from plant and animal
sources.
Solvent extraction
Solvent extraction also known as liquid-liquid extraction and
partitioning, is a method to separate compounds based on their
relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, usually water
and an organic solvent. It is an extraction of a substance from one
liquid phase into another liquid phase. It is a basic technique in
chemical laboratories, where it is performed using a separatory
funnel. In other words, this is the separation of a substance from a
mixture by preferentially dissolving that substance in a suitable
solvent. Solvent extraction may be made use analytically for
concentrating or rejecting a particular substance, or for the separation
of mixtures. This process usually separates a soluble compound from
an insoluble compound. Solvent extraction is used in nuclear
processing, ore processing, production of fine organic compounds,
processing of perfumes and other industries. Thus, although the
method can be used for extraction and preconcentration of a wide
range of non volatile or semi volatile species from water using only
routine laboratory equipments, its use is decreasing in most situations
because solvents of the required purity tend to be expensive, and can
also cause problems with proper disposal after use.
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What is Supercritical Fluid Extraction ?
Supercritical fluids have been investigated since last century, with the
strongest commercial interest initially focusing on the use of
supercritical toluene in petroleum and shale oil refining during the
1970s. Supercritical water is also being investigated as a means of
destroying toxic wastes, and as an unusual synthesis medium. The
biggest interest for the last decade has been the applications of
supercritical carbon dioxide, because it has a near ambient critical
temperature (310C), thus biological materials can be processed at
temperatures around 350C. The density of the supercritical CO2 at
around 200 bar pressure is close to that of hexane, and the solvation
characteristics are also similar to hexane; thus, it acts as a non-polar
solvent. Around the supercritical region, CO2 can dissolve
triglycerides at concentrations up to 1% mass. The major advantage is
that a small reduction in temperature, or a slightly larger reduction in
pressure, will result in almost the entire solute precipitating out as the
supercritical conditions are changed or made sub critical. Supercritical
fluids can produce a product with no solvent residues. Examples of
pilot and production scale products include decaffeinated coffee,
cholesterol-free butter, low-fat meat, evening primrose oil, squalene
from shark liver oil, etc. The solvation characteristics of supercritical
CO2 can be modified by the addition of an entrainer, such as ethanol,
however some entrained remains as a solvent residue in the product,
negating some of the advantages of the "residue-free” extraction.
Supercritical fluid
A supercritical fluid is any substance at a temperature and pressure
above its critical point. It can diffuse through solids like a gas, and
dissolve materials like a liquid. Additionally, close to the critical
point, small changes in pressure or temperature result in large changes
in density, allowing many properties of a supercritical fluid to be
"fine-tuned". Supercritical fluids are suitable as a substitute for
organic solvents in a range of industrial and laboratory processes.
Carbon dioxide and water are the most commonly used supercritical
fluids, being used for decaffeination and power generation,
respectively. CO2 is the kind of extraction solvents for botanicals. It
leaves no toxic residue behind. Its extraction properties can be widely
and precisely manipulated with subtle changes in pressure and
temperature.
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best method for producing high quality botanical extracts. CO2
loading rate in this state means that you have to pump many volumes
of CO2 through botanical. The loading rate is typically 10-40
volumes. For this reason, it is important to have pumped CO2, which
has a much faster loading rate 2-10 volumes and a wide range of uses.
SOLVENTS
Supercritical CO2 is most widely used solvent because of its :-
1. Low critical parameters (31.1º C, 73.8 bar)
2. Low cost
3. Non- toxic
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Apart from CO2 other super critical fluids can be used given in
Table.
SFE also uses some organic solvents, but these organic solvents
are explosion-proof.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are good solvents because of their
high density but their use has been restricted because of their
effect on the ozone sphere.
Now a days, water as SCF has become quite popular because of
unique properties of water above its critical point. (374º C, 218
atm)
Above its critical point water becomes an excellent solvent for
organic compounds and poor solvent for inorganic salts.
This feature of water helps in extracting inorganic and organic
compounds sequentially.
MODIFIERS
Supercritical CO2 because of its low polarity is less effective in
extracting more polar compounds from natural matrices.
To overcome this problem, modifiers (also called co-solvents)
are commonly used.
These are highly polar compounds that are added in small amounts
can produce substantial changes in the solvent properties.
Addition of a modifier can bring about enhanced efficiency of the
SFE process.
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Modifier addition can be accomplished in three ways:
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Phase diagram
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low-density gas. As the critical temperature is approached (300 K),
the density of the gas at equilibrium becomes denser, and that of the
liquid lower. At the critical point, (304.1 K and 7.38 MPa (73.8 bar)),
there is no difference in density, and the 2 phases become one fluid
phase. Thus, above the critical temperature, a gas cannot be liquefied
by pressure. At slightly above the critical temperature (310 K), in the
vicinity of the critical pressure, the line is almost vertical. A small
increase in pressure causes a large increase in the density of the
supercritical phase. Many other physical properties also show large
gradients with pressure near the critical point, e.g. viscosity, the
relative permittivity and the solvent strength, which are all closely
related to the density. At higher temperatures, the fluid starts to
behave like a gas, as can be seen in Fig. 2. For carbon dioxide at 400
K, the density increases almost linearly with pressure.
The system must contain a pump for the CO2, a pressure cell to
contain the sample, a means of maintaining pressure in the system and
a collecting vessel. The liquid is pumped to a heating zone, where it is
heated to supercritical conditions. It then passes into the extraction
vessel, where it rapidly diffuses into the solid matrix and dissolves the
material to be extracted. The dissolved material is swept from the
extraction cell into a separator at lower pressure, and the extracted
material settles out. The CO2 can then be cooled, recompressed and
recycled, or discharged to atmosphere.
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COMPONENTS OF SFE:
1. Pumps
2. Pressure vessels
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Pressure vessels can range from simple tubing to more sophisticated
purpose-built vessels with quick release fittings. The pressure
requirement is at least 74 bars, and most extractions are conducted at
less than 350 bar. However, sometimes, higher pressures will be
needed, such as extraction of vegetable oils, where pressures of 800
bars are sometimes required for complete miscibility of the two
phases. The vessel must be equipped with a means of heating. It can
be placed inside an oven for small vessels, or oil or electrically heated
jacket for larger vessels. Care must be taken if rubber seals are used
on the vessel, as the CO2 may dissolve in the rubber, causing
swelling, and the rubber will rupture on depressurization.
3. Pressure maintenance
The pressure in the system must be maintained from the pump right
through the pressure vessel. In smaller systems (up to about 10
mL/min), a simple restrictor can be used. This can be either a
capillary tube cut to length, or a needle valve, which can be adjusted
to maintain pressure at different flow rates. In larger systems a
backpressure regulator will be used, which maintains pressure
upstream of the regulator by means of a spring, compressed air, or
electronically driven valve. Whichever is used, heating must be
supplied, as the adiabatic expansion of the CO2 results in significant
cooling. This is problematic, if water or other extracted material is
present in the sample, as this may freeze in the restrictor or valve and
cause blockages.
4. Collection
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In case of semi-solids, gel or liquid matrix it is necessary to
immobilize the matrix on the solid support because SFE is
generally not suitable for liquid samples.
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APPLICATIONS
SFE has long been used in industries for the extraction of various
commercial natural products given in Table.
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Rapid analysis for fat content: SFE have been used to determine
the fat content of numerous products ranging from beef to oil seeds
and vegetables. For the analysis of fats content in soybeans,
sunflower, safflower, cottonseed, rapeseed and ground beef, it was
found that supercritical fluid extraction yielded higher recoveries
than those obtained by the AOCS approved methods.
Advancements in SFE
Optimization
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comments can be made, which are universally applicable. However,
some general principles are outlined below.
Maximizing diffusion
Maximizing solubility
Advantages
Selectivity
Speed
Purity
Recovery
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CONCLUSION
Extraction by means of supercritical carbon dioxide can be
expected to improve efficiency, including shorter extraction
times and simplified procedures when compared with extraction
techniques that employ organic solvents.
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REFERENCES
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