Precipitation with compressed fluid anti-solvent , supercritical

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. 

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

At high pressures a considerable amount of a gas can be dissolved in a liquid solution. Once dissolved in the liquid phase it may act as an anti solvent. In literature this type of drowning out is often referred to as the Gas Anti-Solvent (GAS) process, it is also known as the Supercritical Anti-Solvent (SAS) process or as Precipitation with a Compressed fluid Anti solvent (PCA). 

Micronization with supercritical fluids - Crystallization - Rapid expansion - Gas anti-solvent Recrystallization - Precipitation with compressed anti-solvent - Solution-enhanced dispersion - Particles from gas-saturated solutions 80 - 300 fine particles and powders from various products and of designed properties... 

PCA [Precipitation with a compressed anti-solvent] 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 microporous fibers. 

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. 

In GAS or SAS, a batch of solution is expanded by mixing it with a supercritical fluid in a high-pressure vessel (Figure 24.6). Due to the dissolution of the compressed gas, the expanded solvent exhibits a decrease of the solvent power. The mixture becomes supersaturated and the solute precipitates in the form of microparticles. As shown in Figure 24.6, the precipitator is partially filled with the liquid solution of solid substance. The supercritical anti-solvent is then pumped up to desired pressure and introduced into the vessel, preferably from the bottom in order to achieve a better mixing of the solvent and anti-solvent. After a specified residence time, the expanded solution is drained under isobaric conditions in order to clean the precipitated particles. In this mode of operation, the rate of supercritical anti-solvent addition can be an important parameter in controlling the morphology and the size of solid particles. 

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. 

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