Heat recovery in supercritical fluid extraction process with separation at subcritical pressure

The process of supercritical CO2 extraction with separation at a subcritical pressure is used in production plants. For the extraction of hops, it requires more energy than the conventional solid/liquid extraction with methylene chloride. As large low-temperature heat quantities are exchanged in the supercritical fluid extraction process, internal heat exchange by a heat-pump cycle is possible. This reduces the energy costs to the order of those for conventional solid/liquid extraction.