Supercritical Technology Applied to the Production of Bioactive Compounds: Research Studies Conducted at LASEFI from 2009 to 2013

This paper presents a review of the scientific research studies conducted in the period from 2009 to 2013 at LASEFI (Laboratory of Supercritical Technology: Extraction, Fractionation and Identification of Vegetal Extracts) - Department of Food Engineering (DEA)/School of Food Engineering (FEA), University of Campinas (UNICAMP)/Brazil. The current research projects revolve around the use of supercritical fluids in several areas. One of these projects covers the production and encapsulation of micro- and nano-bioactive compounds using Supercritical Antisolvent (SAS) and Supercritical Fluid Extraction from Emulsions (SFEE) techniques. Another project is focused on obtaining anthocyanins, carotenoids, flavonoids, volatile oils and tocotrienols by applying supercritical technology. The experiments involve the determination of process parameters and the chemical characterization of the extracts. The hydrolysis of agroindustrial co-products using sub/supercritical water + CO2 for sugar production and second generation ethanol production are also performed. Recently, a home-made multipurpose system containing two extractors of 1 L each with different shapes was assembled to evaluate the influence of the bed geometry on the kinetic extraction yields and on the chemical composition of the extracts. In yet another project, online processes that produce and encapsulate vegetal extracts of high added value are coupled with supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of bioactive compounds in continuous mode. These projects are performed using SFE extraction systems equipped with 0.005 L - 5 L extractors, 1 hydrolysis systems containing a 0.05 L reactor and 1 micronization systems containing a 0.65 L reactor. In the past 4 years, 57 articles and over 100 conference papers (full length and abstracts) have been published. A large number of botanic matrices have been selected for study due to their functional properties and their potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries.