Supercritical fluids technology in bioprocess industries: A review

This article reviews the fundamentals of supercritical fluid (SCF)science and moves on to the biotechnological applications of theme.g. removal of biostatic agents from fermentation broths, SCFdisruption of microorganisms, destruction of industrial waste, thegas-antisolvent crystallization and micron-size particle formation.Also gaining ground is enzymatic catalysis in supercritical carbondioxide (SC-CO2), which offers the possibility of integratedsynthesis product recovery processes. The paper is structured asfollows: first, the effects of dense SC-CO2 on the extraction ofbiomaterials and disruption of cells are thoroughly reported anddiscussed. Then the application of SC-CO2 in particle formation andmodifications of biopolymers and enzymes are described. Ingeneral, the article is focused on potential bio-industrial applications and future research needs of the SCF technology.