Challenges in the production of pharmaceutical and food related compounds by SC-CO2 processing of vegetable matter

The recovery of active ingredients from vegetable matter is one of the most attractive research fields in the literature. The perspective that moves this large interest, is the possibility to selectively solubilize the compounds of interest in SC-CO2 and to avoid the use of organic solvents that pollute the environment, the products and the processed material. Nevertheless, care must be devoted in selecting process arrangement and extraction conditions, minimizing co-extracted compounds. Fractional extraction and/or fractional separation should be a possible solution. The addition of a co-solvent has been proposed in the case of less soluble compounds in pure SC-CO2; but, the so-called supercritical antisolvent extraction could represent a valuable solution for these compounds.