Application of surfactants to the supercritical fluid extraction of nitroaromatic compounds from sediments

Surface tensions at elevated pressure depend strongly on bulk phase saturation

HYPOTHESIS

Understanding interfacial phenomena at elevated pressure is crucial to the design of a variety of processes, modeling important systems, and interpreting interfacial thermodynamics. While many previous studies have offered insight into these areas, current techniques have inherent drawbacks that limit equilibrium measurements.

EXPERIMENTS

In this work, we adapt the ambient microtensiometer of Alvarez and co-workers into a high pressure microtensiometer (HPMT) capable of experimentally quantifying a wide range of interfacial phenomena at elevated pressures. Particularly, the HPMT uses a microscale spherical interface pinned to the tip of a capillary to directly measure surface tension via the Laplace equation. The stream of microscale bubbles used to pressurize the system ensures quick saturation of the bulk phases prior to conducting measurements. The HPMT is validated by measuring the surface tension of air-water as a function of pressure. We then measure the surface tension of CO₂ vapor and water as a function of pressure, finding lower equilibrium surface tension values than originally reported in the literature.

FINDINGS

This work both introduces further development of a useful experimental technique for probing interfacial phenomena at elevated pressures and demonstrates the importance of establishing bulk equilibrium to measure surface tension. The true equilibrium state of the CO₂-water surface has a lower tension than previously reported. We hypothesize that this discrepancy is likely due to the long diffusion timescales required to ensure saturation of the bulk fluids using traditional tensiometry. Thus we argue that previously reported elevated pressure measurements were performed at non-equilibrium conditions, putting to rest a long standing discrepancy in the literature. Our measurements establish an equilibrium pressure isotherm for the pure CO₂-water surface that will be essential in analyzing surfactant transport at elevated pressures.

Decontamination of hazardous substances from solid matrices and liquids using supercritical fluids extraction: a review

Supercritical fluid has been adopted as an extraction media to remove various kinds of substances from distinct types of solid matrices since three decades ago. Compared to conventional extraction mode, supercritical fluid extraction technology is preferred because of the flexibility in adjusting its dissolving power and inherent elimination of organic solvent which means reducing time and money needed for subsequent purification. Utilization of this method as an environmental remedial technology, however, has become a trend only after its accomplishment in analytical chemistry was acknowledged. This review tries to summarize in a comprehensive manner the multitude aspects involved in hazardous compounds removal from miscellaneous class of environmental matrices. The industrial adsorbent regeneration using supercritical fluid technology is also discussed. Although, this technology has been successfully realized for environmental remediation in laboratory and on pilot-plant scale, its commercialization attempts still lack significant technology improvement in order to reach the economic feasibility.

Orthogonal array design for the optimization of supercritical fluid extraction of baicalin from roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi

Supercritical fluid was used to extract baicalin from the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi. An orthogonal array design (OAD), OA(9)(3(4)), was employed as a chemometric method for the optimization of the supercritical fluid extraction of baicalin from the herbal medicine. Four parameters, namely, modifiers, temperature and pressure of supercritical fluid, and the dynamic extraction time, were studied and optimized by a three-level OAD in which the interactions between the parameters were neglected. Determinations of the extracts were performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The effects of parameters were studied using analysis of variance. The results showed that selection of the modifier was the main factor in attaining higher yields of baicalin. While the other three factors had some effect on the extraction of the compound, the effect was much less than that of the modifiers. 1,2-Propanediol-modified supercritical fluid was more effective than 95% ethanol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide or methanol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide for the extraction of baicalin from the solid matrix. Finally, experimental conditions were proposed which can provide the highest extraction yield with respect to the considered factors.

Extraction of berberine from rhizome of Coptis chinensis Franch using supercritical fluid extraction

Supercritical fluid was used to extract berberine from rhizome of Coptis chinensis Franch. The recovery of berberine was compared with various modifiers, i.e. methanol and 95% ethanol with and without surfactant Tween 80, and 1,2-propanediol. The results show that the yield obtained after 3 h extraction with 1,2-propanediol-modified supercritical carbon dioxide was the highest (from 6.91%, w/w at 200 bar to 7.53%, w/w at 500 bar), while that obtained with 95% ethanol modified-supercritical carbon dioxide was the lowest (from 0.15%, w/w at 300 bar to 0.19%, w/w at 600 bar). The recovery of berberine was not improved by adding 5% Tween 80 in supercritical fluid.

Extraction of paeonol fromJisheng Shenqi Wan using supercritical fluid extraction

Supercritical carbon dioxide with or without methanol and 95% ethanol modifiers was used to extract paeonol from the pills of Jisheng Shenqi Wan and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to analyze the extract. The effect of temperature and pressure on the yield of paeonol was tested. The results show that the recovery of paeonol was improved by adding a polar modifier, such as methanol and 95% ethanol in supercritical fluid. The yield obtained after 120 min extraction with 95% ethanol modified-supercritical carbon dioxide was the highest (1.51, w/w at 60 degrees C and 400 bar), while that obtained with supercritical carbon dioxide only at 40 degrees C was the lowest from 0.67 to 0.83 over a range of 200-600 bar.

Application of supercritical and subcritical fluids for the extraction of hazardous materials from soil

Subcritical and supercritical extractions are novel, non destructive techniques which can be applied for the removal of hazardous compounds from contaminated soil without any changes of the soil composition and structure. The aim of the presented review paper is to give information on up-to day results of this method commonly applied by several institutions worldwide. Interest in the application of SC CO2 has been more expressed in the last two decades, which may be related to its favorable characteristics (non-toxic, non-flammable, increase diffusion into small pores, low viscosity under SC conditions, low price and others). However, interest in wet oxidation (WO) and especially in SCWO (the application of water under supercritical conditions with air) has also increased in the last few years. Interest in H2O as a SC fluid, as well as in extraction with water under subcritical conditions may also be related to specific characteristics and the enhanced rate of extraction. Moreover, the solubility of some specific compounds present in soil can be easily changed by adjusting the pressure and temperature of extraction. The high price of the units designed to operate safely at a pressure and temperature much higher than the a critical one of the applied fluids is the main reason why, at present, there is no more broader application of such techniques for the removal hazardous materials from contaminated soil. In the present paper, among many literature citations and their overall review, some specific details related to the development of specific analytical methods under SC conditions are also considered.