Development of equipments for extraction, particle formation and chemical reactions using pressurized fluids

Abstract

This project is dedicated to the construction of new equipments for the processing of natural products using high pressure fluids, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. The use of pressurized solvents is an alternative to toxic organic solvents, or to techniques that require high temperatures. The equipments to be built will address the extraction and nanoparticle formation of bioactive compounds from raw materials or food industry byproducts, both of vegetal sources, and the synthesis of esters by means of reactions with the possibility of using enzymes. In the extraction step supercritical CO2 (SFE) and pressurized water (PLE) extractions will be performed. Indeed, ultrasound will be applied during the extractions in order to accelerate the processes and increase their yields. The extracts obtained by SFE and PLE, with or without ultrasound, will be lead to encapsulation procedures, which will be performed through methods that use supercritical CO2 as antisolvent (SAS and SFEE). The produced particles will be evaluated in terms of their size, uniformity, shape, concentration and stability of their bioactive compounds. The kinetics of controlled release of the compounds will be evaluated, as well as their stability in the liberation mean. Finally, the biological activities of the encapsulated products will be evaluated by specific tests. The synthesis of esters will be performed using supercritical CO2 as reaction medium, alcohols, sugars, fatty acids and terpenes as substrates, and immobilized lipases ad catalyzers, leading to sugar or terpenic esters as products. The processes of extraction, particle formation and release will have their mechanisms studied by means of mathematical modeling, dealing with thermodynamic and kinetic issues. The performing of the proposed processes will demand the construction of four equipments, being one of supercritical extraction (SFE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), one of SFE and PLE assisted by ultrasound, one for particle formation by SAS and SFEE, and a high pressure reactor. Therefore, the financial resources of the present proposal concentrate in equipments, consumables and services needed to build and operate those units. (AU)