The characteristics of supercritical CO2 extraction determine its wide application range. In the pharmaceutical industry, it can be used for the extraction of effective ingredients from Chinese herbal medicine, the refinement of heat sensitive biological products and drugs, and the separation of lipid mixtures; In the food industry, the extraction of hops and pigments; In the spice industry, the refinement of natural and synthetic spices; Separation of mixtures in the chemical industry, etc. Specific applications can be divided into the following aspects:
1. Extracting bioactive molecules from medicinal plants, extracting and separating alkaloids;
2. Lipid lipids from different microorganisms, or used for lipid lipid recovery, or to remove lipids from sugars and proteins;
3. Anti cancer substances extracted from various plants, especially taxol obtained from the bark and branches of Taxus chinensis, can prevent and treat cancer;
4. Vitamins, mainly the extraction of vitamin E;
5. Purify various active substances (natural or synthetic) by removing unnecessary molecules (such as pesticides or "residues" from vegetable extracts) to obtain purified products;
6. Processing of various natural antibacterial or antioxidant extracts, such as basil, saffron, thyme, garlic, onion, Cota tinctoria, Chili powder, licorice and fennel seeds.
Advantages of supercritical CO2 extraction of plant extracts:
1. Supercritical extraction can be carried out near room temperature (35-40 ℃) and under CO2 gas cover, effectively preventing the oxidation and escape of heat sensitive substances. Therefore, the Active ingredient of medicinal plants are kept in the extracts, and the substances with high boiling point, low volatility and easy pyrolysis can be extracted at a temperature far below its boiling point;
2. The use of SFE is the cleanest extraction method. Since organic solvents are not used throughout the entire process, the extract contains no residual solvent substances, thus preventing the presence of harmful substances to human health and environmental pollution during the extraction process, ensuring 100% purity and naturalness;
3. Extraction and separation are combined into one. When the CO2 fluid of the saturated dissolved substance enters the separator, due to a decrease in pressure or a change in temperature, the CO2 and the extracted substance quickly become two-phase (gas-liquid separation) and immediately separate. This not only improves the extraction efficiency but also reduces energy consumption, improving production efficiency and reducing cost;

4. CO2 is an inactive gas that does not undergo chemical reactions during the extraction process and is a non combustible gas. It is odorless, odorless, non-toxic, and has excellent safety;
5. CO2 gas is cheap, highly pure, easy to produce, and can be reused in production, effectively reducing costs;
6. Both pressure and temperature can become parameters that regulate the extraction process. By changing the temperature and pressure, the purpose of extraction can be achieved. Pressure fixation can also separate substances by changing the temperature; On the contrary, by fixing the temperature and reducing the pressure to separate the extract, the process is simple and easy to master, and the extraction speed is fast.