In the extraction industry, chromatography is a group of techniques and, these techniques are very helpful and effective for the separation of compounds of the mixture. This separation process consists of continuous distribution between two phases. The one phase is the stationary phase and, the second phase is the mobile phase and, the system is associated with the following:
- Adsorption chromatography is a combination of solid stationary phase and liquid gaseous mobile phase. Gas chromatography is an example of adsorption chromatography.
- In partial chromatography, a liquid stationary phase and a liquid gaseous mobile phase come. Paper chromatography is an example of partial chromatography.
With the development of advanced technology, there is a wide range of techniques varying in complexity, the sensitivity of adsorption, separation ability, and partial chromatography. This offers an excellent separation and permits the correct assay of the very concentration of a wide variety of substances in the complex mixture.
Supercritical fluid chromatography, or simply SFC is a hybrid technique of liquid and gas chromatography. This is because when the stationary phase is liquid and mobile phase and technique are known as liquid chromatography. On the other side, when the stationary phase is gas and the mobile phase is liquid, it is known as gas chromatography. So, supercritical fluid chromatography links the best features of gas chromatography and liquid chromatography as well. Supercritical Chromatography is an important technique as it allows the separation and determination of a group of compounds that are not controlled by liquid and gas chromatography.
Important properties of SCFS
- Supercritical chromatography fluids have high densities and greater affinity to dissolve large, and non-volatile molecules. The solvation strength of these supercritical fluids depends on fluid density. Therefore, the solubility of solid is deployed by making a few changes in pressure and temperature.
- Some important processes are depending on the high solubility of organic species in supercritical carbon dioxide and, it has been employed for extracting caffeine from coffee beans. In order to get decaffeinated coffee and also extract nicotine from cigarette tobacco. Let?s take an example of supercritical carbon dioxide, which readily dissolves n-alkenes containing 5 to 30 carbon atoms.
- Dissolved analysis can quickly be recovered by simply permitting the equilibrium solution is another important property of supercritical fluids at low temperatures.
- In the end, supercritical fluids have higher diffusion constants and lower viscosities comparative to liquid solvents. If there is a low viscosity, pressure drop across the column for a given flow rate is decreased.
- If there is greater diffusibility that means the longer length is used and on the other side of the diffusion coefficient is high, then increase in the order of high-performance liquid chromatography. These advantages are very important in chromatography and extraction with supercritical fluid also. For this take an example of CO2 in which an analyte is dissolved and can be recovered simply by reducing the pressure and allowing it to evaporate.
Wrapping up
The use of organic chemicals as used in HPLC could be reduced with the use of SFC With the desire for environmentally conscious technology. This is because SFC generally uses carbon dioxide, collected as a by-product of other chemical reactions or is composed directly of the atmosphere, it pays no new chemicals to the environment.
Unlike gas chromatography or high-Performance liquid chromatography where the mobile phase controls the type of detector to be used, SFC utilizes mobile phase, which can be either gas or gas-like. Hopefully, the information shared through this post regarding supercritical chromatography will help you a lot. Furthermore, if you want to know about?SFC Equipment, drop your message in the below comment section box. Thank you for reaching out!
