Scale-up study of supercritical fluid extraction process for clove and sugarcane residue

Many scale-up criteria for supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) can be found in literature. However, the studies are often divergent and inconclusive; therefore, more studies on this field are needed. The objective of the present work was to study the scale-up of SFE process focusing application to Brazilian raw materials. A laboratory scale equipment (290 mL extraction vessel) and a pilot scale equipment (5.15 L extraction vessel) were used to study scale-up of SFE for clove and sugarcane residue. The scale-up criterion adopted consisted in maintaining solvent mass to feed mass ratio constant. The criterion was successfully used for a 15-fold scale-up of overall extraction curves for both raw materials studied; yields in pilot scale were slightly higher than in laboratory scale. The criterion studied allows a rapid and simple scale-up procedure, which can be very useful for the purpose of developing SFE technology at industrial scale in developing countries where such technology is still not available at industrial level.