화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Supercritical Fluids, Vol.134, 214-219, 2018
Towards ingredients by combining Supercritical Fluids with other processes
"Crude extracts" obtained from most natural sources cannot be used as is from a supercritical fluid (SCF) plant and have to be reprocessed to eliminate water, pigments and waxes so as to become "clean extracts" that are concentrated in active compounds for direct use as ingredients in food, cosmetics or nutraceuticals/pharmaceuticals. On the other hand, the solid or liquid raw material can be processed as the ingredient itself from which unwanted compounds are eliminated and/or in which a valuable solute is infused. Several on-line or off-line processes are proposed so as to obtain such "ready-for-use" ingredients by combination of supercritical fluid processes (extraction, fractionation, impregnation) and other techniques including vacuum and molecular distillation, centrifugation and dehydration, adsorption on specific adsorbents, cold filtration and winterisation.