Applications of Supercritical Fluids

Abstract

This review discusses supercritical fluids in industrial and near-to-industry applications. Supercritical fluids are flexible tools for processing materials. Supercritical fluids have been applied to mass-transfer processes, phase-transition processes, reactive systems, materials-related processes, and nanostructured materials. Some applications are already at industrial capacity, whereas others remain under development. In addition to extraction, application areas include impregnation and cleaning, multistage countercurrent separation, particle formation, coating, and reactive systems such as hydrogenation, biomass gasification, and supercritical water oxidation. Polymers are modified with supercritical fluids, and colloids and emulsions as well as nanostructured materials exhibit interesting phenomena when in contact with supercritical fluids that can be industrially exploited. For these applications to succeed, the properties of supercritical fluids in combination with the materials processed must be clearly determined and fundamental knowledge of the complex behavior must be made readily available.