Compressed fluid antisolvent process

Gas antisolvent processes can be performed in a semicontinuous mode. In this case the solution and the antisolvent are continuously introduced in the system until the desired amount of the product is formed. The introduction of the solution is then stopped and the DG flux extracts the residual solvent from the system. The system is then depressurized to enable collection of the product. The solution is generally introduced through an atomization nozzle that favors the prompt expansion of the solution and the formation of small particles. Different process configurations have been utilized, i.e., co- and countercurrent introduction of the solution and antisolvent fluxes and various nozzles have been designed. The process is referred to by different acronyms such as ASES (aerosol solvent extraction system), SAS (supercritical antisolvent), SEDS (solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids), PCA (precipitation with a compressed fluid antisolvent), GASR (gas antisolvent recrystallization), GASP (gas antisolvent precipitation). 

PRECIPITATION WITH A COMPRESSED FLUID ANTISOLVENT (PCA), A SUPERCRITICAL ANTISOLVENT (SAS), AND THE AEROSOL SOLVENT EXTRACTION SYSTEM (ASES) PROCESSES... 

Dozens of drugs have been recrystallized by means of the precipitation with a compressed fluid antisolvent (PCA) and the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) and aerosol solvent extraction system (ASES) processes. 

Magnan C, Badens E, Commenges N, Charbit G. Soy lecithin micronization by precipitation with a compressed fluid antisolvent—influence of process parameters. J Supercrit Fluids 2000 19 69-77. 

Gallagher PM, Coffey MP, Krukonis VJ, Klasutis N. Gas anti-solvent recrystallization new process to recrystallize compounds insoluble in supercritical fluids. In Johnston KP, Penniger JML, eds. Supercritical Fluid Science and Technology. Washington, DC American Chemical Society, 1989 334-354. Dixon D, Johnston KP, Bodmeier R. Polymeric materials formed by precipitation with a compressed fluid antisolvent. AIChE J 1993 39 127-136. Chattopadhyay P, Gupta RB. Production of griseofulvin nanoparticles using supercritical CO2 antisolvent with enhanced mass transfer. Int J Pharm 2001 228 19-31. 

Many volatile low-molecular-weight organics are completely miscible with carbon dioxide at relatively modest temperatures and pressures. However, nonvolatile compounds or those with higher molecular weights, especially polymers, are often insoluble. Insoluble liquid compounds may be dispersed into CO2 with the aid of appropriate surfactants to form a kinetically stable o/c emulsion [10,11]. Stable emulsions are important in separation processes, heterogeneous reactions and materials formation processes, such as precipitation with a compressed fluid antisolvent [40]. These emulsions are the precursors to solid latex particles in dispersion polymerization. Stabilization of o/c emulsions has been studied in-situ to understand surfactant design for polymerization [10,11]. 

Gas AntisolventRecrystallizations. A limitation to the RESS process can be the low solubihty in the supercritical fluid. This is especially evident in polymer—supercritical fluid systems. In a novel process, sometimes termed gas antisolvent (GAS), a compressed fluid such as CO2 can be rapidly added to a solution of a crystalline soHd dissolved in an organic solvent (114). Carbon dioxide and most organic solvents exhibit full miscibility, whereas in this case the soHd solutes had limited solubihty in CO2. Thus, CO2 acts as an antisolvent to precipitate soHd crystals. Using C02 s adjustable solvent strength, the particle size and size distribution of final crystals may be finely controlled. Examples of GAS studies include the formation of monodisperse particles (<1 fiva) of a difficult-to-comminute explosive (114) recrystallization of -carotene and acetaminophen (86) salt nucleation and growth in supercritical water (115) and a study of the molecular thermodynamics of the GAS crystallization process (21). 

Gas anti-solvent processes (GASR, gas anti-solvent recrystallization GASP, gas antisolvent precipitation SAS, supercritical anti-solvent fractionation PCA, precipitation with a compressed fluid anti-solvent SEDS, solution-enhanced dispersion of solids) differ in the way the contact between solution and anti-solvent is achieved. This may be by spraying the solution in a supercritical gas, spraying the gas into the liquid solution. 

Supercritical fluid crystallization (SFC) is a technique for precipitating or crystallizing solutes dissolved in liquid solvents by injecting or mixing the solvent system with a compressed or supercritical fluid antisolvent. SFC is unique in that it uses a compressed gas to trigger the crystallization. Two benefits often associated with SFC include single-step processing of particulate pharmaceuticals with controlled... 

PCA [Precipitation with a Compressed Antisolvent] A process for making a solid with unusual morphology by spraying a solution of it into a supercritical fluid. The process resembles spray drying into a supercritical fluid. Used for making microspheres, microporous fibers, and hollow... 

Abbreviations A, acetone ASES, aerosol solvent extraction system DM, dichloromethane DMF, A/,A/-dimethyl-formamide E, ethanol GAS, gas antisolvent process H, hexane HYAFF-11, hyaluronic acid benzylic ester I, isopropanol PAN, polyacrylonitrile PCA, precipitation with compressed antisolvent PCL, polycaprolactone PHB, poly(p-hydroxybutyric acid) PLA, polylactic acid PLGA, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) SAS, supercritical antisolvent process SEDS, solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids TFE, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol Triblock polymer, p poly(L-lactide-CO-D,L-lactide-co-glycolide)(62.5 1 2.5 25). 

Several processes utilizing supercritical fluids for materials processing have been reported in the literature although their commercial use is not well documented. Among the well-known processes are rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS) (Phillips and Stella, 1993), the gas antisolvent process (GAS) (Yeo et al., 1993), aerosol solvent extraction system (ASES) (Bleich and Muller, 1996), a precipitation with compressed antisolvent process (PCA) (Brennecke, 1996), and solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) (Samp et al., 2000). The first four processes are for products that are soluble in the supercritical fluid or in an organic solvent. Biomolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids cannot be dissolved, and for such processes... 

Figure 3 (a) Schematic flow diagram of the solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) process, (b) Nozzle configurations of the SEDS and the precipitation by compressed antisolvent (PCA) processes. 

Weber A, Tschernjaew J, Kummel R. Coprecipitation with compressed antisolvents for the manufacture of microcomposites. Proceedings of the 5th meeting on Supercritical Fluids Materials and Natural Products Processing, Nice,... 

As described in Chapter 3, several SCF techniques are available for the preparation of drug delivery systems. These include rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS), gas antisolvent recrystallization (GAS), supercritical antisolvent recrystallization (SAS), supercritical antisolvent with enhanced mass transfer (SAS-EM), solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS), supercritical fluid nucleation (SFN), precipitation with compressed antisolvent (PCA), and aerosolized supercritical extraction of solvents (ASES). While RESS and SFN involve the expansion of a supercritical fluid solution of a drug to form drug particles, GAS, SAS, SAS-EM, SEDS, PCA, and ASES use a supercritical fluid as an antisolvent to precipitate particles of a drug dissolved in an organic solvent (5). General RESS and GAS processes are further elaborated in Sections 1.1.1 and 1.1.2. 

Supercritical fluids, such as CO2, often exhibit weak solvent strength toward many organic and polymeric solutes. This antisolvent or nonsolvent nature of these SCFs for many solutes can further be employed by spraying an organic solution of the drug and/or polymer through a nozzle into a compressed gas or SCF (Figure 2). This process, termed precipitation with... 

Both the nucleation of supercritical anti-solvent bubbles in a polymer+organic solvent-rich phase in the supercritical anti-solvent process (SAS) (or, equivalently, precipitation with a compressed antisolvent PCA) (e.g., [76]) and the nucleation of bubbles of a dissolved supercritical fluid from a saturated and nozzle-expanded solution containing a solute to be precipitated, in the formation of particles from gas-saturated solutions (PGSS) [77] are bubble nucleation problems, to which the above ideas apply. In the latter case, the nucleation of bubbles occurs simultaneously with that of solid particles within the bulk supersaturated solution. 

There have been several reviews of RESS over the past decade, with the most comprehensive being the 1991 work of Tom and Debenedetti (7), as it discusses both theory and experimental work in detail. An updated review of their modeling work was presented 2 years later (8). In more recent years, reviews have become more general, discussing RESS as one of several alternatives for processing materials with supercritical fluids (9-11). Such a development is, of course, not surprising, as many of the other techniques (such as supercritical antisolvent (SAS) and precipitation with compressed antisolvent (PCA) processes) have been developed to overcome one of the disadvantages of RESS, namely, the limited solubility of many materials in supercritical carbon dioxide. 

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