Supercritical CO2 fractionation allows extraction from liquid biomass into a counter-current fractionation column. This method is used either for the separation of molecules from a complex mixtures or for purification after supercritical CO2 extraction.
As well as supercritical CO2 extraction, this green process has the advantage to precisely separate molecules of interest or target compounds to obtain different fractions of extract while maintaining their original properties and preserving sensitive compounds.
The fractionation takes place in a counter-current column. CO2 is injected in an injector close to the bottom of the column, as the feed is injected in multiple points. Light extract is recovered at the top of the column and non-extracted part of the liquid (called raffinate) is recovered at the bottom.
The column is equipped with a heating system along the column height in order to realize a temperature gradient fractionation, since the compounds’ solubility in supercritical CO2 decrease as temperature increase. An extract reflux system allows to increase the selectivity of the separation, since the extract is more-rich of the desired molecule.
Supercritical fractionation is used for formulation in cosmetics, for the creation of fragrances in perfumery or for the separation of EPA and DHA fatty acids from fish oil in food industry.
The fractionation column can be coupled with a Lab, Pilot & Industrial equipment (see : extraction equipment).
