Decaffeination of Coffee with Supercritical Fluids

The blog, "Espresso Coffee Maker" has recently featured a post on "The Process of Coffee Decaffeination" which features the use of supercritical fluids as "an excellent agent for separating an element such as caffeine from a coffee bean..."

The Applied Separations website has more information about the supercritical fluid extraction process.

http://www.cofee-makers.com/the-process-of-coffee-decaffeination/
http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/

"Green" Process for the Extraction of Natural Products

The term natural products has become the "catch-all" for any compound that has been produced by a living being, e.g. plant, animal, algae. The extracted compounds are used in, or are themselves, foods, medicinals, pigments, fragrances. The process for many years was to extract from the matrix material by solvents: aqueous and petroleum based. The first large scale use of supercritical fluids in extracting natural products was the decaffeination of coffee in 1979 and since then thousands of compounds have been extracted commercially.

Growing environmental concerns have renewed interest supercritical fluids as the “green” alternative for natural products extractions. Find out how “green” your process.

http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/SCF_Uses/SCF_for_Natural_Products.asp

Environmentally Friendly Debinding in Metal Injection Molding

Metal injection molding, or MIM, is a manufacturing process which combines the versatility of plastic injection molding with the strength and integrity of machined, pressed or otherwise manufactured small, complex, metal parts. The process involves combining fine metal powders with binders which allow the metal to be injected into a mold using standard plastic injection molding machines. The binders must be removed before the part can be used.

Traditional debinding methods are:

• environmentally unfriendly due to high VOC emissions
• may use solvents that are scheduled to be outlawed by the Montréal protocol
• have excessively long debinding times

Using supercritical fluids in the debinding process is faster and economically friendly.

Click here to find out how supercritical fluids can make your process ‘green’ and more efficient.
http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/SCF_Uses/SCF_for_Metal_Injection_Molding.asp

Green Chemistry: Recycle Your Solvents

Everyone is making an effort to be environmentally friendly. We recycle our glass, cans, and newspapers, we take our travel mugs to the coffee shop, and take cloth bags to the grocery store… why not recycle solvents? Wait, recycle solvents?

Instead of using traditional solvents, which are costly and really cannot be recycled, use supercritical carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is one of the most commonly used supercritical fluids. CO₂ is:

• Safe
• Inexpensive
• Readily available
• An ideal substitute for many hazardous and toxic solvents

By controlling or regulating pressure and temperature, the density, or solvent strength, of supercritical fluids can be altered to simulate organic solvents ranging from chloroform to methylene chloride to hexane. This dissolving power can be applied to purify, extract, fractionate, infuse, and recrystallize a wide array of materials.

CO₂ is not produced in the SCF process. Existing CO₂ is used. There is NO addition to the greenhouse effect.

For more information about how you can use green chemistry for your process, visit the Applied Separations website.
http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/

“Green” Alternative to Soxhlet for Fat Determination in Food

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was used to determine total fat and fat-soluble vitamins in Parmigiano cheese and salami. The results were compared with results obtained by traditional methods (Soxhlet). The quantity collected by SFE was statistically equivalent to the Soxhlet extraction.

For more information about the process or the specific application, contact Applied Separations
or visit the SCF section of the Applied Separations website.

Medical Implant Cleaning Using Supercritical Fluids

Today’s modern medicine allows many of us to have longer, healthier and more productive lives than our ancestors ever could have dreamed. One key part of this advancement is the use of medical implants that are made to replace and act as a missing biological structure within the body. Since the implants are placed inside the body, the cleanliness of the implant must be beyond compare. Contaminants can be introduced into the implant both in the processing of the implant and in the post-production handling.

For more information about cleaning medical implants with supercritical fluids, visit the SCF section of Applied Separations' website.

http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/SCF_Uses/SCF_for_Medical_Implant_Cleaning.asp

Using Supercritical Fluids to Dry Aerogels

Aerogels are highly porous materials with large internal surface area and large pore volumes. Their densities are as low as 3 kg/m3 and have porosities as high as 99.9%. This makes them excellent thermal insulators. In fact, aerogels are listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the being the best insulators and the lowest-density solids.

In addition to their thermal insulating capabilities, aerogels have structural strength and impressive load-bearing ability, exceptional absorptive properties, and acoustic insulating capabilities. A short list of specific applications:

• Thermal insulation to windows and skylights
• Chemical absorber for cleaning up spills
• Thickening agents in paints and cosmetics
• Commercial manufacture of aerogel "blankets"
• NASA used aerogels to trap space dust particles aboard Stardust spacecraft
• NASA also used aerogel for thermal insulation of the Mars Rover space suits
• US Navy is evaluating aerogel undergarments as passive thermal protection for divers
• Use as a drug delivery system due to its biocompatibility. (Due to its high surface area and porous structure, drugs can be adsorbed from supercritical CO₂)

For more information, visit the SCF for Aerogels page.
http://appliedseparations.com/Supercritical/SCF_Uses/SCF_for_Aerogels.asp