Application of Supercritical Extraction for Isolation of Chemical Compounds

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the scientific literature on the study of the supercritical extraction process. The use of substances in a supercritical state as an extractant is the basis of the supercritical extraction process. In a supercritical fluid, there is a high intensity of mass transfer, which allows the supercritical fluid to easily penetrate into the raw material and efficiently extract the target components. Carbon dioxide is of particular interest, since its use as an extractant in the process of supercritical extraction meets the basic principles of «green chemistry». The paper pre-sents the mechanisms of mass transfer of target components from plant raw materials that arise during the process of supercritical extraction using carbon dioxide. The kinetics of the supercriti-cal extraction process is considered. During the process, three main periods are distinguished: a period of a constant extraction rate, a period of a falling extraction rate, and a period of a low ex-traction rate. The influence of temperature and pressure, the influence of water in the raw material on the yield of target components in the process of supercritical extraction is shown. Supercritical extraction requires special high-pressure equipment. The paper presents the main technological so-lutions for the implementation of the process. A comparison of the process of supercritical extrac-tion with extraction in the Soxhlet apparatus is carried out. The supercritical extraction process makes it possible to obtain an extract of high purity, which is promising for the production of bio-logically active medicinal components and the separation of impurities from difficult-to-separate mixtures. Examples of the application of supercritical extraction in industry are given. In addition, the paper presents studies on the extraction of aralosides from Aralia mandshurica plant raw mate-rials using the supercritical extraction process. Supercritical extraction is considered as a safe and more efficient way to extract target components from plant materials.