Reasons behind the Supercritical CO2 technology

The supercritical carbon dioxide technology is an advanced industrial application compared to the traditional use of chemical solvents. In fact, with this technology, it is proposed the use as a solvent of a gas in supercritical state with the aim of:

• overcome the use of chemical solvents that do not offer sustainability prospects due to several factors like Environmental Costs: these costs show their impact on companies both in the form of direct monetary costs incurred by the company in the disposal procedures and indirectly as costs for safeguarding the health of workers (insurance costs, health costs incurred by public administration) both as environmental costs supported by the public administration (taxes)

• Impact On Human Health: many of these solvents are considered reason to various occupational diseases.

• Increase the Quality In Final Product until now limited by the use of less selective solvents (hexane, ethanol, etc.). These chemical solvents also are often employed in situations such as the excessive heat and excessive length of extraction times that negatively is reflected on the quality in final product

• Improve Extractive Efficiency: The CO2, inert, non-toxic substance, available in the same environment in large quantities, is therefore brought to the supercritical state (neither liquid nor gas but in an intermediate condition like a very thick fog), over 74 bars and above 31.8 ° C, to become a very efficient solvent for vegetable oils, animal oils, mineral oils and waxes

• Residual solvents: CO2, unlike traditional solvents (Hexane, Ethanol, etc...), is completely removed while extraction is running. There is no need to apply a secondary process.

• International Health Regulations and Global Public Health Security (see original FDA report extract or full original report): the use of traditional solvent is now dramatically limited by the new International Health Regulations, applied all over the world to protect Public Health. New limits are in some cases 1 part per million, 1ppm or 1 mg per kg and this trend is only at the beginning.

• New generation machines have software and hardware controlling the process step by step, increasing quality and repeatability up to GMP standards.

• Full process control and traceability are the success keys.