1

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Medi

cinal and Aromatic Plants
Presented By

Guided By

Bill C John

Aishwarya K N

Semester 7

Asst. Professor

Department of Chemical
Engineering

Department of Chemical
Engineering

TALK MAP
1) Introduction
2) History
3) Supercritical Fluid Extraction
i. Significance
ii. A Convenient Solvent: CO2
iii. SFE Process
iv. Extraction Yield
v. Products
4) Conclusion
5) Bibliography

INTRODUCTION
Medicinal plants are the richest bio resource of drugs
Aromatic plants are a source of fragrances, flavors, heal
th beverages.
Extraction is the separation of medicinally active portio
ns of plant or animal tissues using selective solvents

Source: www.moutainherbblog.com

Figure 1

HISTORY

Ancient Chinese and Egyptian papyrus writings describe medicinal

uses for plants as early as 3,000 BC
African and Native American cultures used herbs in healing rituals
Developed traditional medical systems such as Ayurv
eda and Chinese medicine also exists.
In the early 19th century, scientists began to extract
and modify the active ingredients from plants
Today one fourth of pharmaceutical drugs are derive
d from botanicals

Source: www.moutainherbblog.com

Figure 2

Figure 3 Herbal medicines in Madagascar

Courtesy Dr. Voara R

Figure 4

Source: http://herbs.lovetoknow.com

SUPERCRITICAL FLUID EXTRACTIO

N

Separation of two components with supercritical fluid as ext

raction solvent
Used in:
Analytical purposes
Purification
Extraction
Figure 5 :Extraction Unit
Source: http://uhde-hpt.com

SUPERCRITICAL CONDITION

A fluid above its critical temperature (TC) and critical pressure (PC)
Reduced temperature Tr (i.e. T/TC) less than1.2 or 1.3
Reduced pressure Pr (i.e. P/PC) may be as high as possible

Source: Nasa- Harvesting Mars

Figure 6.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SFE
Extractions at temperature near to ambient
Prevents substance from thermal denaturation
Organic solvent-free products
Preserves natural properties
CO2 is technically and economically valid for SFE

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The Convenient solvent: CO 2

TC=31.06 C, PC=73.81 bar
Non toxic
Low flammability
Low cost
Source: en.wikipedia.org

Figure 7

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SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS AS EXTRACTION SOLVENTS

Selection of solvent proportional to its density
Empirical correlation proposed by Chrastil in 1982 is

where s is the solute solubility, is the solvent density and T is the absolute t
emperature; a, b and c are correlation parameters

Contd.

Figure 8: Density vs. pressure diagram

for carbon dioxide

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Figure 9: Solubility of 1,4-bis-(n-propylamino)9,10-anthraquinone in supercritical CO2: as a

function of solvent density

Source: Chrastil, J., 1982, Solubility of solids and liquids in supercritical gases, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 86: 3016-3021

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Disadvantages of CO 2

A poor solvent, even at supercritical conditions

Does not dissolve polar molecules
Good solvent only for low molecular weight solutes
Non-selective
Co-solvent
High pressures

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SFE PROCESS
Feed A+B

Solvent CO2

Extractor

Raffinate B
High Pressure

Extract A

Seperator

Energy W
Low Pressure

Feed A+B

Solvent CO2

Extractor

Raffinate B
Lower Temperature

Extract A

Seperator

Energy Q
Higher Temperature

Figure 10: Block flow diagrams of simple SFE processes: with separation obtained by
(a) pressure change and by (b) temperature change
Source: Chrastil, J., 1982, Solubility of solids and liquids in supercritical gases, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 86: 3016-3021

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Contd..
EXTRACTOR

SEPERATOR

Figure 11: Single extractor, multiple separator scheme

EXTRACTOR

SEPERATOR

Figure 12: Multiple extractor, single separator scheme

Source: Chrastil, J., 1982, Solubility of solids and liquids in supercritical gases, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 86: 3016-3021

EXTRACTION YIELD

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Figure 13: Extraction yield versus time at different temperatures

Source: Chrastil, J., 1982, Solubility of solids and liquids in supercritical gases, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 86: 3016-3021

PRODUCTS
Oleoresin
Essential oil
Naphthodianthones, hypericin and pseudohypericin
Flavonol glycosides (flavonoids) and terpenoids
Long chain n-alcohols, Kava lactones
Free fatty acids, fatty alcohols and triglycerides
Carotenoids, tocopherols and sitosterols
Paclitaxel, baccatin III, Procyanidins ,Taxol etc.

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Source: Amazon.in

Figure 14 Application

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CONCLUSION
Effective method of drug extraction
Efficiency
SFE : No denaturation

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Bertucco, A. and Vetter, G. (Eds.), 2001, High Pressure Process Technology: Fundame
ntals and Applications, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam
Brunner, G., 1994, Gas Extraction: An Introduction to Fundamentals of Supercritical F
luid and Application to Separation Processes, Steinkopff Darmstadt Springer, New Yo
rk
Chrastil, J., 1982, Solubility of solids and liquids in supercritical gases, Journal of Physi
cal Chemistry, 86: 3016-3021
Shi, J. (Ed.), 2006, Functional Food Ingredients and Nutraceuticals, Processing Technol
ogies, Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, USA
Stahl, E. K., Quirin, W. and Gerard, D., 1986. Dense Gases for Extraction and Refining,
Springer Verlag, Berlin

Clery, R., 1999, Advances in Headspace Analysis of Flowers. In: Proceedings of t

he IFEAT Conference, 8-12 November 1998, London, p. 294-297
Magistretti, M. J., 1980, Remarks on pharmacological examination of plant extr
acts, Fitoterapia, 51: 67-78