Climate Change has emerged as one of the grand global challenges facing humanity. The dominant anthropogenic greenhouse gas that seems to be contributing to the climate change problem, carbon dioxide (CO2), has a complex cycle through the atmosphere, oceans and biosphere. The combustion of fossil fuels (power production, transportation, etc.) remains the largest source of anthropogenic CO2 to t...

The use of CO2 as a heat transfer fluid has been proposed as an alternative to water in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Numerical simulations have shown that under expected EGS operating conditions, CO2 could achieve more efficient heat extraction performance than water. We have conducted laboratory experiments with dry supercritical CO2 in order to test and refine the theoretically derived ...

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE-CO2) is an attractive, green technology that used for the recovery of biologically active compounds from plant material. The antioxidant potential lipophilic fractions (extract obtained with SCE-CO2) and hydrophilic (extracts residue after extraction) a matrix freeze-dried tomatoes (cvs. “Admiro” F1, “Jurgiai”, “Vilina”, “Pirmutis”, “Skariai”) was as...

Global climate change conditions (elevated CO2 and atmospheric temperatures) are subjecting our forests, especially Boreal and temperate forests, to significant abiotic stresses, such as drought. This can affect health, productivity and fitness of our forests. Therefore, it is imperative to understand genomic and eco-physiological responses of forest trees to global climate change. We are addre...

Prediction of solubility in SuperCritical CO2 (SC-CO2) as a function of system pressure (P) and temperature (T) aids selection of process condition for extraction processes. Several equations have being used to correlate solubility as a function of P and T, but best-fitting procedures typically demand a large set of experiments. Previously, other groups have developed semi-empirical models to p...

Recently, refrigerant 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R134a) was considered as an extraction solvent alternative to supercritical fluid CO2. We measured water-liquid R134a partition coefficients of some organic compounds using a high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC). The experiment could be operated by moderate modification of the commercial instrument. The partition coefficient data were...

Extracting volatile compounds using supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) is one of the most interesting applications of supercritical technology, due to the high solubility of these substances in scCO2. Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SFE-CO2) has been applied for obtaining extracts from several vegetable matrices, among them turmeric (Curcuma longa), because its volatile oil contains ...

A recent cannabis use survey revealed that 60% of cannabis users rely on smelling the flower to select their cannabis. Olfactory indicators in plants include volatile compounds, principally represented by the terpenoid fraction. Currently, medicinal- and adult-use cannabis is marketed in the United States with relatively little differentiation between products other than by a common name, assoc...

Biologically active polar substance 20-hydroxyecdysone was extracted from roots and leaves of Leuzea carthamoides with ethanol-modified dense carbon dioxide. The effect of operating conditions (pressure 20-27 MPa, temperature 40-60 oC, ethanol concentration in the solvent 4.3-7.1 wt.%, and solvent-to-feed ratio up to 100 g/g) on the extraction rate and the concentration in extract was examined....

A supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) method has been developed for the extraction of lipids in bilberry. Experimental design was used to optimize pressure, temperature and extraction time using CO2 as solvent. Best SFE condition for total lipids was 450 bar, 60 °C and 45 min. The SFE method was compared to conventional Bligh & Dyer (B&D) extraction. The amount of fatty acid methyl esters (FAM...