Applications of supercritical fluid extraction in the food industry

52 Supercritical fluid technology is applied in various fields, including the nonthermal cell inactivation, permeabilization, extraction of fermentation products, removal of biostatic agents and organic solvents from fermen tation broth, disruption of yeasts and bacteria, destruction of industrial waste, and removal of chlorinated compounds from water and others. This chapter has focused on SCF special applications in the field of food industry. The application of SCF is simple, inexpensive, and noninjurious to the structure and function of enzymes and protein activities. The super critical carbon dioxide is the most commonly used fluid. It has low crit ical temperature of 31.1°C, and the pressure of 7.3 MPa makes it an ideal medium for processing volatile products. The nontoxicity and nonflam mability as well as the selectivity of the process and the ease of recovery are the most important features.