Canada's POS Pilot Plant Corporation is to offer supercritical fluid extraction on a contract basis for process and product development by late summer of this year.
Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), used in the food industry since the early 1980's, is increasingly being used for high value compounds in natural products industries such as nutraceuticals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Supercritical fluid extraction uses carbon dioxide under high pressure to extract components. It is environmentally friendly, non-combustible, leaves no toxic or undesirable residues, and is more selective in the components extracted. POS will aim to capitalise on growing concern for safety and quality in foods and medicine.
The company will receive the Thar Technologies Model SFE 5000M F1 Supercritical Fluid Extraction System this month. The unit is completely integrated, PC-controlled and can operate in a co-solvent mode. It is expected to be ready for project work by mid to late summer.
Acquisition of the new equipment is part of POS's Mini-Pilot Plant Initiative aimed at providing clients with a wide range of intermediate capacity equipment for process and product development.
"The 1 - 5 litre capacity of our SFE system makes it well suited for both large and small scale R&D projects, especially when it is important to closely mimic industrial processing conditions," said Dr Paul Fedec, POS vice president of Scientific & Regulatory Affairs.
"Also when clients choose POS as their outsourcing partner, they can choose from a variety of additional services designed to increase their competitive edge," explains Dr Fedec.
He added that the company has the infrastructure in place to fully exploit supercritical extraction technology for clients. "That includes comprehensive integrated services for upstream and downstream processing, scale-up, analytical services, logistics and materials handling, and quality assurance - all in a cGMP-compliant environment."