Opportunities for process intensification using reverse micelles in liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide

Journal article (1999)

Authors

Earl Goetheer Eindhoven University of Technology

M. A.G. Vorstman Eindhoven University of Technology

Jos Keurentjes Eindhoven University of Technology

Affiliation

External organisation

Carbon dioxide Surfactants Review Supercritical fluid Downstream processing Microemulsions Polymerizations Reverse micelles

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Published Date

1999

Language

English

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Abstract

Liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide can be used as a replacer for organic solvents, which potentially enables the development of clean processes. A general disadvantage of CO₂, however, is that it is a very poor solvent for high molecular weight or hydrophilic molecules. By using reverse micelles to overcome this problem, a wide variety of novel processes can be thought of. In this review, it is shown that the use of micellar systems in supercritical CO₂ leads to processes generating a minimum amount of waste and with a low energy requirement. It is also shown that especially downstream processing of biochemicals and polymerization reactions can benefit from this technique, as the number of consecutive process steps can be reduced significantly.