POTENTIALS AND PROSPECTS FOR APPLICATION OF SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID TECHNOLOGY IN BIOPROCESSING

Recent investigations on the application of supercritical (SC) fluid technology in bio- and food chemistry are reviewed. The gas-antisolvent crystallization and rapid expansion of SC fluid emerge as attractive methods for micron-size particle formation. Also gaining ground is enzymic catalysis in SC CO2, which offers the possibility of integrated synthesis-product recovery processes. These processes, successfully tested on a laboratory scale, need further scale-up and optimization. Supercritical CO2 has proven to be unfriendly, or even toxic, for living microorganisms, which precludes direct fermentation in dense CO2 but does not rule out other useful applications.