Supercritical carbon dioxide processing of lipids and nutraceuticals: Fundamentals and novel process development

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The proposed research program focuses on the application of supercritical fluid technology to Canada's natural biological resources to develop novel processes and to obtain high quality value-added products. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the supercritical fluid of choice for food applications. At temperatures and pressures above its critical point (31oC, 7.4 MPa), supercritical (SC) CO2 has properties in between those of a liquid and a gas. The use of petroleum-based organic solvents for the processing of food and natural health products is being questioned due to safety concerns. SC-CO2 extraction eliminates the use of organic solvents, leaving no solvent residue in the final product since CO2 separates as a gas upon pressure reduction. This is especially important in the rapidly growing field of natural health products/nutraceuticals since the consumers are demanding "natural" extracts. Thus, there has been a tremendous growth in the SC-CO2 extraction of health benefiting components from various plant materials at industrial scale. Development of novel applications of SC-CO2 technology through better understanding of the fundamental principles governing this process and evaluation of the products obtained are the main goals of this research program. The use of supercritical fluids in my program involves the unit operations of extraction, fractionation, reactions, membrane separation and particle formation applied to lipids and nutraceuticals. As such, my program is unique in North America and well respected globally. The next phase of my research program will focus on enhancing our understanding of the fundamentals in terms of solubility and phase behavior of lipids/nutraceuticals in SC-CO2. Various physical properties necessary for engineering modeling will be determined. A major focus will be membrane separations for the isolation of bioactives and particle formation techniques targeting micro/nano particles to design novel delivery systems for nutraceuticals, targeting high-value functional food, nutraceutical and cosmetic applications. The nutraceuticals of interest are omega-3 fatty acids, phytosterols, tocopherols and carotenoids, which have been demonstrated to have beneficial effects against heart disease and cancer.