Four Things to Consider Before Choosing the CO2 Extraction Process

To make the industrialization of supercritical fluid extraction technology develop healthily and play a role, the following issues must be paid attention to.

Target CO2 Extract

When choosing the target CO2 extract, it is necessary to conduct a market analysis to see how big the market demand is and whether the market is stable and long-lasting.

Generally speaking, the price of products in large quantities will not be high, and the demand for products with high value cannot be very large. Because of this, when deciding to use supercritical CO extraction technology and supercritical CO2 extraction machines, we must do a good job in market research and product selection. It is required that the CO2 extract produced by the CO2 extraction process should not only have high added value but also have a relatively long-lasting market share of a certain scale. The price of CO2 extract must be investigated according to mass production, and must not be based on the price of small packages in the reagent manual. The priceless CO2 extract is insufficient.

Feasibility Analysis of CO2 Extraction Process

A technical feasibility analysis must be carried out.

• Analyze whether a product can be extracted with supercritical CO2, such as tea polyphenols, ginkgo flavonoids, puerarin, etc., are not suitable for extraction with supercritical CO2 fluid;
• Compared with other technologies, whether supercritical CO2 fluid extraction is the most economical extraction method, for example, the extraction cost of ginger oil is much higher than that of steam stripping;
• When using supercritical fluid for extraction, the entrainer should not be used as much as possible. If it has to be used, careful experimental research is required, and special attention should be paid to how to further process the extracted product containing the entrainer and how to recover the added entrainer. How to ensure the stability of entrainer concentration during carbon dioxide circulation extraction. More importantly, if flammable and explosive organic solvents such as ethanol, acetone, or methanol are used as hair entrainment agents, explosion-proof measures must be taken in the workshop, which will greatly increase the cost of the device.

Target CO2 extract content

When conducting preliminary economic analysis, it is also necessary to consider that the content of effective CO2 extract components in raw materials should not be too low (generally not lower than 1%), and the apparent density of raw materials should not be too small (generally not less than 0.3t/m3), The extraction time should not be too long (generally no more than 6 hours/batch), and the solubility of effective components in supercritical CO2 fluid should not be too small (generally not less than 1‰). Otherwise, economic viability is questionable.
If the target CO2 extract is an intermediate raw material for the production of pharmaceuticals, it is necessary to pay attention to the regulations and regulations of the pharmaceutical administration department and the quality requirements put forward by downstream manufacturers, such as requiring the production process to meet GMP standards. To meet the requirements of the pharmaceutical administration means that greater investment is required. Of course, for the extraction of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine, supercritical CO2 extraction is useful. But generally speaking, CO2 extracts must be developed into medicines to achieve stable benefits.

The scale of supercritical CO2 extraction equipment

The scale of CO2 extraction equipment should not be too large, especially for the production of flavors and fragrances, and essential oils, the scale of CO2 essential oil extraction equipment should be controlled, and “one machine with multiple uses” should not be considered too much. The problem brought about by “one machine with multiple uses” is The cost of cleaning is high, the carbon dioxide must be replaced, and the product is prone to cross-contamination. Cross-contamination is the most taboo for spices and flavors, which makes the taste impure. Generally, the production equipment of flavors and fragrances is between tens of liters and hundreds of liters.

Carbon dioxide source

When deciding to build an industrial-scale supercritical CO2 extraction facility, it must be determined whether there is an inexpensive and readily available source of carbon dioxide near the location of the production plant. Many valuable plant resources are distributed in remote areas with underdeveloped economies. Often, when these areas lack carbon dioxide resources, they have to be shipped from far away, which greatly increases transportation costs and reduces the competitiveness of products.

Do remember

We must not be misled by immature and unsuccessful research results, and we must not mistake the prospects of scientific research for the actual benefits of industrial production.

Supercritical CO2 extraction technology is a very new high technology of separation and extraction that is highly regarded in the world, but its evaluation must be scientific and accurate, and must not be too large. This is a scientific responsibility that all scientific and technological workers engaged in the research and development of this technology must undertake.