ADVANCES IN SUPERCRITICAL-FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHIC PROCESSES

Analytical supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is now coming to age with widespread use in many laboratories, and chromatographic processes using supercritical eluents are now considered as potential solutions for large-scale fractionations. The hydrodynamics of supercritical fluids through porous media and retention phenomena are analysed prior to describing both adsorption-desorption processes and ''classical'' preparative elution chromatography, which appears to be a competitor to preparative HPLC especially when non-polar molecules are to be handled. The combination of the high selectivity of chromatographic interactions and the unique properties of supercritical fluids (mainly CO2) will probably lead to promising applications mainly in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries and possibly also in pollution abatement in the next decade.