Supercritical efficiency

The WAG process has been used extensively in the field, particularly in supercritical CO2 injection, with considerable success (22,157,158). However, a method to further reduce the viscosity of injected gas or supercritical fluid is desired. One means of increasing the viscosity of CO2 is through the use of supercritical C02-soluble polymers and other additives (159). The use of surfactants to form low mobihty foams or supercritical CO2 dispersions within the formation has received more attention (160—162). Foam has also been used to reduce mobihty of hydrocarbon gases and nitrogen. The behavior of foam in porous media has been the subject of extensive study (4). X-ray computerized tomographic analysis of core floods indicate that addition of 500 ppm of an alcohol ethoxyglycerylsulfonate increased volumetric sweep efficiency substantially over that obtained in a WAG process (156). 

H. Daimon and Y. Hirata, Trapping efficiency and solute focusing in on-line supercritical fluid exti action/capillai y supercritical fluid chi omatography , 7. Microcolumn Sep. 5 531-535 (1993). 

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) refers to the use of mobile phases at temperatures and pressures above the critical point (supercritical) or just below (sub-critical). SFC shows several features that can be advantageous for its application to large-scale separations [132-135]. One of the most interesting properties of this technique is the low viscosity of the solvents used that, combined with high diffusion coefficients for solutes, leads to a higher efficiency and a shorter analysis time than in HPLC. 

The use of both sub- and supercritical fluids as eluents yields mobile phases with increased diffusivity and decreased viscosity relative to liquid eluents [23]. These properties enhance chromatographic efficiency and improve resolution. Higher efficiency in SFC shifts the optimum flowrate to higher values so that analysis time can be reduced without compromising resolution [12]. The low viscosity of the eluent also reduces the pressure-drop across the chromatographic column and facilitates the... 

The efficiency of many CSPs increases dramatically when liquid eluents are replaced with sub- or supercritical fluids. During a comparison of LC and SFC performed with a Chiralcel OD CSP, Lynam and Nicolas reported that the number of theoretical plates obtained was three to five times higher in SFC than in LC [26]. The separation of metoprolol enantiomers by LC and SFC on a Chiralcel OD CSP is illustrated in Fig. 12-2. Although impressive selectivity is achieved by both techniques, resolution is higher in SFC (R = 12.7) than in LC (R = 4.8), and the higher flowrate in SFC reduces the analysis time. The increased efficiency of SFC also improves peak symmetry. 

A new brush-type CSP, the Whelk-0 1, was used by Blum et al. for the analytical and preparative-scale separations of racemic pharmaceutical compounds, including verapamil and ketoprofen. A comparison of LC and SFC revealed the superiority of SFC in terms of efficiency and speed of method development [50]. The Whelk-0 1 selector and its homologues have also been incorporated into polysiloxanes. The resulting polymers were coated on silica and thermally immobilized. Higher efficiencies were observed when these CSPs were used with sub- and supercritical fluids as eluents, and a greater number of compounds were resolved in SFC compared to LC. Compounds such as flurbiprofen, warfarin, and benzoin were enantioresolved with a modified CO, eluent [37]. 

Biocatalytic reduction has been performed in nonaqueous solvents to improve the efficiency of the reaction. This section explains the use of organic solvent, supercritical fluids, and ionic liquid. 

Braga et al. ° compared the efficiencies of several processes, i.e., hydrodistillation, low pressnre solvent extraction, and Soxhlet and supercritical fluid extraction. For each process, the inflnences of several parameters (duration, temperature, nature of solvent) were also evalnated. These authors concluded that the Soxhlet method performed with ethanol/isopropanol 1/100 v/v for 2 hr and 30 min was the most effective. Snn et al. nsed solid phase extraction to concentrate (nine times) a... 

Supercritical fluid extraction — During the past two decades, important progress was registered in the extraction of bioactive phytochemicals from plant or food matrices. Most of the work in this area focused on non-polar compounds (terpenoid flavors, hydrocarbons, carotenes) where a supercritical (SFE) method with CO2 offered high extraction efficiencies. Co-solvent systems combining CO2 with one or more modifiers extended the utility of the SFE-CO2 system to polar and even ionic compounds, e.g., supercritical water to extract polar compounds. This last technique claims the additional advantage of combining extraction and destruction of contaminants via the supercritical water oxidation process."... 

Cajthaml T, V Sasek (2005) Application of supercritical fluid extraction (SEE) to predict bioremediation efficiency of long-term composting of PAH-contaminated soil. Environ Sci Technol 39 8448-8452. 

The efficiency of drilling operations can be increased using a drilling fluid material that exists as supercritical fluid or a dense gas at temperature and pressure conditions occurring in the drill site, such as carbon dioxide. 

Hydrothermal oxidation (HO) [also called supercritical water oxidation (SeWO)] is a reactive process to convert aqueous wastes to water, CO2, O2, nitrogen, salts, and other by-products. It is an enclosed and complete water treatment process, making it more desirable to the public than incineration. Oxidation is rapid and efficient in this one-phase solution, so that wastewater containing 1 to 20 wt % organics may be oxidized rapidly in SOW with the potential for higher energy efficiency and less air pollution than in conventional incineration. Temperatures range from about 375 to 650°C and pressures from 3000 to about 5000 psia. 

Extraction of residues from soil samples is much more difficult than their extraction from plant or water samples. The pesticide residues in the soil exist often in several forms as bound residue , which may affect the extraction efficiency of pesticides from the soil. Then, various extraction methods such as organic solvent extraction, Soxhlet extraction, sonication extraction, microwave dissolution and supercritical fluid extraction (SEE) are used. Some extraction methods are described in the following. 

SFE. SFE has been established as the extraction method of choice for solid samples. The usefulness of SFE for soil samples has been demonstrated for carbamate,organophosphorus and organochlorine pesticides. However, SFE is more effective in extracting nonpolar than polar residues. In order to obtain a greater extraction efficiency for the polar residues of imidacloprid, the addition of 20% methanol as modifier is required. Extraction at 276 bar and 80 °C with a solvent consisting of supercritical carbon dioxide modified with methanol (5%) for 40 min gives a recovery of 97% (RSD = 3.6%, n = 10). It is possible to use process-scale SFE to decontaminate pesticide residues from dust waste. ... 

INFLUENCE OF COLUMN INTERNAL DIAMETER ON EFFICIENCY AMD SEPARATION TIME FOR OPEN TUBUALR COLUMN SUPERCRITICAL FLUID CHROMATOGRAPHY. 

Figure 6.2 Influence of colunn internal diaeeter and stationary phase filn thickness on efficiency for open tubular colunns operated at 10 u with supercritical carbon dioxide under low density conditions as the nobile phase. (Reproduced with pemission from ref. 46 and 47. Copyright Dr Alfred Huethig Publishers).

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