Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of agricultural and food processing wastes and by-products

The agricultural processing industry generates a large variety of byproducts and wastes ranging from manure to packing residuals. Researchers are working to develop technologies to reduce environmental costs to the agricultural processing industry by developing new uses for these materials. The isolation of components developing new processes is welcomed to produce value added products, up to fine chemicals. Supercritical carbon dioxide is tested for the extraction of lipids and lipophilic components, where this technology has advantages over conventional solvents in that high extraction rates are achieved at lower temperatures, which preserves many of the thermolabile extracted components. In this approach, researchers generally conduct analyses of byproduct and waste streams, their characterization, and isolation of components. In this presentation, some results obtained at the University of Perugia, and a review of supercritical fluid literature is reported. Some market perspectives and future applications are discussed.