Supercritical Fluid Technologies (SFT) introduced a new pilot scale supercritical extractor for the processing of natural products called SFT-NPX-10. It is designed to simplify extraction for a wide variety of natural products utilizing safe and efficient carbon dioxide (CO₂). It can be used to facilitate the transition from laboratory scale equipment to large production scale systems. The SFT-NPX-10 is designed to perform supercritical fluid extractions in processing vessels of 20 liter capacity and below with single or dual separators. A Coriolis mass flow meter guarantees precise mass flow measurement and a pneumatic CO₂ pump with an integral pre-chiller is used to maximize pumping efficiency. A programmable controller is available as an upgrade for automated regulation of pressure, temperature and process cycles, as well as a CO₂ recycle option.

Using supercritical CO₂ to perform extractions on botanicals, herbs, spices and other natural product materials has benefits over the use of traditional liquid solvents. While the supercritical fluid possesses many of the same characteristics of a liquid solvent, it adds the benefits of high diffusivity and pressure tunable solvency power.  No residual solvents remain in the extract or remaining biomass. There is no need to perform a distillation step since, upon dropping pressure, the CO₂ becomes a gas. The extracted material is pure and in its natural state. The CO₂ may be safely vented or optionally recycled for even greater efficiency.

SFT provides equipment and custom solutions for separations and processing. The company collaborates with Fortune 500 businesses, universities, government research centers and specialized organizations worldwide to advance research in supercritical fluid separation, reaction chemistry and high pressure applications.