Extraction of oil from crushed sunflower seeds with supercritical CO 2 was performed at 280 bar and 40 °C on a laboratory apparatus of 0.15 × 10 -3 m 3 volume and on a pilot plant of 1.5 × 10 -3 m 3 volume. CO 2 flow rate ranged between 5 and 45 kg h -1 . To study the influence of the vegetable matrix on the extraction rate, a re-extraction experiment on the extraction product was also performed on the pilot scale apparatus. A mathematical model of the supercritical extraction process was developed on the basis of the experimental evidence. The equilibrium between the solids and the fluid phase appeared to be the controlling step during the extraction process. A simplified form of a sigmoidal-shaped equilibrium curve was adopted to fit the experimental data in the whole range of CO 2 flow rates explored. The meaning of this nonlinear equilibrium relationship was also discussed.

Very important R&D efforts are presently dedicated to applications of supercritical fluids (SCFs) in the pharmaceutical industry, especially for formulation and particle design, but few companies have acquired some know-how in process scale-up, in compliance with the constraints imposed in this industry traceability, Good Manufacture Practises (GMP), and sterility. In this paper based on our experience gathered when developing several formulation processes and building tens of SCF plants during the past decade, we will present the different processes now available for drug formulation, the guidelines to operate the optimal choice, and the general scale-up rules with the specific constraints related to pharmaceutical plants, illustrated by experimental results.

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