Create Non-Toxic, Therapeutic / Food Grade Essential Oils Easily and Cost Effectively

The use of essential oils has become "essential" for modern living. Essential oils can be primary ingredients in perfumes for cosmetics or soaps and detergents. They form the basis of the spices in our foods. Essential oils are the base for aromatherapy.

What if there was a way to extract essential oils quickly and efficiently, without compromising the quality of the extract? There is. Supercritical carbon dioxide.

With supercritical fluids:

• No Solvent residue. No health hazard. Maintains a "natural" state. 
• Mild Extraction Conditions – 31°C temperature 
• Fractionation - easy using only CO₂ - CO₂ is a "tunable solvent" – easily change your temperature/pressure to suit your material 

Concrete/Oleoresin created with
Supercritical Fluid Extraction

Supercritical CO₂ can also be used in conjunction with more traditional methods such as soaking perfume feedstocks in an organic solvent for a period of time. The organic solvents containing the extracted the perfumes (essential oils) and accompanying waxes is then decanted and evaporated, leaving a concrete. The essential oils can easily be separated from the wax with supercritical CO₂. Because of the low temperature, the process gives high recoveries.

Click here to see an example of a supercritical system for the extraction of essential oils.

Visit Applied Separations for more information.

Water-Free Textile Dyeing

In the USA, the textile dyeing industry has invested more than one billion dollars in the past decade on environmental technologies designed to ensure that by-products of textile manufacturing do not pollute the environment. 

This investment is paralleled in other parts of the world, notably Taiwan and Korea. Initially, this effort focused on reducing the large quantities of water needed in current processes, for even the most economical use of water requires 100L/kg material. 

Supercritical carbon dioxide is an alternative dyeing technology that eliminates the use of water while achieving results comparable to current dyeing processes. Supercritical CO₂ is harmless ecologically, available, non-toxic and non-explosive.

For more information about this environmentally friendly method of dyeing, view the Applied Separations Application Note on Textile Dyeing.

What Does Supercritical Fluid Look Like?

It's not a gas... it's not a liquid... so what does supercritical fluid look like, anyway? 

Applied Separations vessels are available with 5-port lids that allow for the addition of a fiber optic probe to view the inside of the vessel during your process. 

View the video and see!

Double Your High Pressure Processing Capability with the Spe-ed SFE-4

Spe-ed SFE-4: 4-Vessel Simultaneous Oven-based Extraction System

The Applied Separations Spe-ed SFE-4 is a staple of the research lab. The Spe-ed SFE-4 was designed to meet the rigorous needs of day-to-day use in the research lab. It is simple to operate, fast and affordable, with unique features not found in other supercritical fluid systems. The Spe-ed SFE-4 has parallel processing capabilities of up to 4 high pressure vessels.

The system features:
•    temperatures to 240°C
•    pressure up to 10,000 psi (680 BAR)
•    pump flow rates up to 400mL/min
•    independent control of flow rates to each vessel
•    fully-adjustable, non-clogging, variable restrictors
•    parallel processing capabilities of up to 4 vessels
      from 0.5mL to 1.0L
•    collection into SPE cartridges or standard glassware
•    in-line trapping capabilities
•    modifier addition capability
•    multiple flow path capability
•    extract directly from liquid samples

Featured Supercritical Fluid Instrument: Spe-ed SFE-2

Spe-ed SFE-2
Laboratory Scale
Supercritical Fluid
Instrument

The Spe-ed^TM SFE-2 is the original SFE in Applied Separations' series of instruments for supercritical fluid extraction. Built in conjunction with the USDA, this system was designed to meet the rigorous needs of day-to-day use in the research lab. It is simple to operate, fast and affordable, with unique features not found in other SCF systems.

The system features:

• temperatures to 240°C
• pressure up to 10,000 psi (680 BAR)
• pump flow rates up to 400mL/min
• independent control of flow rates to each vessel
• fully-adjustable, non-clogging, variable restrictors
• parallel processing capabilities of 1 or 2 vessels from 0.5mL to 1.0L
• collection into SPE cartridges or standard glassware
• in-line trapping capabilities
• modifier addition capability
• multiple flow path capability 
• extract directly from liquid samples

For more informaion, visit the Applied Separations website.

Applied Separations at the ACS Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference

Visit the ACS Green Chem Show in Washington, DC, June 18 - 20 to discover how to "green" your process. Applied Separations will be there with information about supercritical fluids, why supercritical fluids are green, and how supercritical fluids can be used in your application.

Environmentally Friendly Critical Cleaning with Supercritical Fluids

Traditional methods for Medical Implant Cleaning have typically included solvents and water-based systems. While these methods are accepted, there are modern updates that are far more effective and do not include the potentially fatal side effects such as irritants from solvents, residue from the production process. In addition, the newer processes are environmentally friendly and safer for implant recipients because there is no residue.

Visit the Applied Separations website to learn more about the benefits of using supercritical fluid for critical cleaning applications.