A better product through better science
Aromas: earth, honey, and peanut butter. Flavors: Musky pine forest
SFE can substitute many traditional extraction processes from vegetable matrices for the obtainment of dry extracts or essential oils with specific characteristics. The extraction of substances from complex mixtures, in particular, can be made highly selective, modifying properly the operational temperature and pressure conditions, in order to adapt them to the Solubility of the different components of interest. An example is the terpenes removal from the essential oils from citruses and other officinal plants, through which a mixture of aromatic components stable to light and temperature is obtained (generally, monoterpenes are not, and sometimes they contribute in no way to the smell).
Supercritical CO2 Properties
ADVANTAGES USING CO2 in SUPERCRITICAL STATE
Characteristics of supercritical CO2 State
Benefits Derived by the Supercritical CO2 Specific Characteristics
Is odorless, non-toxic
Does not contaminate raw material or the environment
Changing conditions of pressure and temperature also can change the solvent properties
Efficient extraction and high product quality
Critical temperature of the process is near to the room temperature
Ability to obtain extracts without thermic alteration
The high-pressure process generates differential pressure between the inside and the outside of the cells of bacteria and microorganisms
In many cases remarkable or total reduction of bacteria is obtained
Retains its high permeability similar to a gas
The extraction time is shorter than that required by common solvent extraction
It is a gas in the atmosphere. Biological processes leave no trace of contamination
Allows utilization of waste products as raw materials or other byproducts
CO2 is taken from the atmosphere and returns to the atmosphere
CO2 extraction cycles applied to industrial process do not alter the environmental balance
Completely saturates the extraction chamber
Removal of the extract from the matrix is complete, occurs in a single industrial phase, and it is not subject to very rapid heating as in other technologies. Optimization of processing times. Inhibition of oxidative processes.
