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

拟议的研究计划侧重于将超临界流体技术应用于加拿大的自然生物资源，以开发新的工艺，并获得高质量的附加值产品。二氧化碳(CO2)是食品应用的首选超临界流体。在高于临界点(31摄氏度，7.4兆帕)的温度和压力下，超临界(SC)二氧化碳的性质介于液体和气体之间。出于安全考虑，使用以石油为基础的有机溶剂加工食品和天然保健品受到了质疑。超临界CO2萃取消除了有机溶剂的使用，因为二氧化碳在减压后以气体的形式分离，所以在最终产品中不会有溶剂残留。这在快速增长的天然保健品/营养食品领域尤为重要，因为消费者需要“天然”的萃取物。因此，在工业规模上，从各种植物材料中提取对健康有益的成分的超临界二氧化碳萃取量有了巨大的增长。通过更好地了解指导这一过程的基本原理和对所获得的产品进行评估，开发超临界二氧化碳技术的新应用是本研究计划的主要目标。在我的项目中，超临界流体的使用包括提取、分级、反应、膜分离和应用于脂质和营养食品的颗粒形成等单元操作。因此，我的项目在北美是独一无二的，在全球都很受尊敬。我的下一阶段研究计划将集中于加强我们对超临界二氧化碳中脂类/营养食品的溶解度和相行为方面的基本原理的理解。将确定工程建模所需的各种物理属性。主要的焦点将是膜分离生物活性物质和针对微/纳米颗粒的颗粒形成技术，以设计针对高价值功能食品、营养食品和化妆品应用的新型营养食品递送系统。令人感兴趣的营养食品是omega-3脂肪酸、植物甾醇、生育酚和类胡萝卜素，已被证明对心脏病和癌症有有益效果。

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.