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

拟议的研究计划侧重于超临界流体技术在加拿大天然生物资源中的应用，以开发新工艺并获得高质量的增值产品。二氧化碳（CO2）是食品应用中的超临界流体。当温度和压力高于临界点（31 ℃，7.4 MPa）时，超临界（SC）CO2的性质介于液体和气体之间。由于安全问题，使用石油基有机溶剂加工食品和天然保健产品受到质疑。SC-CO2萃取消除了有机溶剂的使用，在最终产品中没有残留溶剂，因为CO2在减压时作为气体分离。这在快速增长的天然健康产品/营养品领域尤其重要，因为消费者需要“天然”提取物。因此，在工业规模上从各种植物材料中SC-CO2提取有益于健康的成分方面已经有了巨大的增长。通过更好地理解该过程的基本原理和对所获得产品的评估，开发SC-CO2技术的新应用是本研究计划的主要目标。超临界流体在我的程序中的使用涉及萃取，分馏，反应，膜分离和颗粒形成的单元操作应用于脂质和营养品。因此，我的项目在北美是独一无二的，并在全球范围内受到尊重。我的研究计划的下一阶段将侧重于提高我们对SC-CO2中脂质/营养品的溶解度和相行为的基本原理的理解。将确定工程建模所需的各种物理特性。一个主要的重点将是用于分离生物活性物质的膜分离和针对微/纳米颗粒的颗粒形成技术，以设计用于营养品的新型递送系统，针对高价值的功能性食品，营养品和化妆品应用。感兴趣的营养保健品是ω-3脂肪酸、植物甾醇、生育酚和类胡萝卜素，它们已被证明对心脏病和癌症具有有益作用。

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.