Solvent-Free Essential Oils

Rosehip Oil
Rosehip oil is a valuable natural product for the cosmetic industry, yet conventional methods of extraction are often time consuming and rely heavily on the use of chemical solvents. Traditionally, the determination of oil in rosehip seeds is accomplished by soxhlet extraction. Since rosehip seeds contain a relatively low percentage of oil compared to other seeds this extraction method is labor intensive and requires a significant quantity of organic solvent, such as hexane.

SCF is an alternative technique using supercritical carbon dioxide to extract rosehip seed oil quickly and naturally in the laboratory. It eliminates the use, exposure to, and disposal of hazardous solvents, while providing comparable extraction results in less time.

For more information on how to extract oil from rosehip seeds without using solvents, visit the Applied Separations website. Click here to download the Extraction of Rosehip Seed Oil using Supercritical Fluids application.

http://www.appliedseparations.com/Applications/default.asp#SCF

http://www.appliedseparations.com/Applications/downloads/SCF/sfe518RosehipSeedOil.pdf

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.