Supercrical fluid technology for generic technology

In recent years, Supercritical Fluids (SCF) have been shown to be effective solvents and reactants in applications of interest to industry. In extraction of natural products with Supercritical CO ₂, product separation is achieved simply by reducing the system pressure since CO ₂ is a gas at ambient conditions. In washing, supercritical CO ₂ can replace many freons which will greatly lower the use of harmful chemicals that generate greenhouse gases. In reactions, supercritical water (SCW) is an excellent solvent for crystallization of inorganics for fine particle production. The crystallization atmosphere can be easily controlled with temperature and pressure. In many cases, SCW provides a homogeneous reaction environment and high reaction rates and mass transfer. SCW promotes hydrolysis reactions of biomass. cellulose and plastics such as PET for resource and energy recovery applications. SCW has also been applied to waste treatment (oxidation) and heavy oil upgreading. SCF technology can be widely applied throughout chemical industries.