Green Chemistry’s new Centre for CO2 applications

The new centre will study extraction, fractionation and reactions in liquid and supercritical CO2. In its supercritical state, CO2 has low surface tension and viscosity making manufacturing processes faster. This provides ideal conditions for extracting compounds with a high degree of recovery in a short period of time and with easy separation of products.

Some applications already developed using CO2 include:

• Extraction of herbs and spices for food and beverage use
• Extraction of waxes for cosmetic or personal care products
• Extraction of oils for neutraceuticals – products with both a nutritional and pharmaceutical value
• Extraction and fractionation of pharmaceutical molecules
• Recovery of liquid crystals from end-of-life electronics
• Synthesis of a wide range of molecules using in-situ biocatalysts

The Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence has an international reputation for the development and implementation of green and sustainable chemistry and related technologies into new products and processes.

We hope to provide an alternative to conventional organic solvents in a wide range of applications

Professor Ray Marriott

In recent years, Professor Marriott’s research has concentrated on the applications of extraction with CO2 and post-extraction transformation of natural molecules. The products generated from these studies have been used in a variety of business sectors including food, agrichemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and fragrances.

Professor Marriott said: “We hope to provide an alternative to conventional organic solvents in a wide range of applications including extraction and fractionation of botanical materials, reactions with conventional or bio-catalysts, product cleaning and production of micro particles with liquid and supercritical CO2.”

Extraction can be carried out on as little as 30g of material and scaled up to produce sufficient quantity for formulation trials. All trials are supported by physical and chemical analysis of feedstocks and products.

Liquid CO2 is used in the extraction of essential oils and oleoresins. When CO2 is used as a supercritical fluid, the manipulation of temperature and pressure produces a highly tuneable solvent that can be used to extract a wide range of molecules. In consequence, most commercial extraction plants are designed to operate using supercritical CO2.

Funding for this initiative has been provided by the University of York’s Research and Enterprise office.