Patent ID: 6106720
Filing Date: 2000-08-22
Classification: B01D

Abstract:
A process of extracting a solute from a fluid or a dense gas comprising the step of intimately contacting a dense gas with a fluid in an extraction column operating in an enhanced solubility region of a temperature range between 1.5 times and 10 times a critical temperature of an extracting medium and a pressure range between 6 times and 16 times a critical pressure of the extracting medium, wherein at least one of the fluid and the dense gas contains a solute to be extracted, the other one of the fluid and dense gas serves as the extracting medium with the solute being selective to the extracting medium, the fluid comprises at least one barely soluble component in the dense gas and is substantially immiscible with the dense gas so as to provide two phases and the extraction column has a diameter greater than 3.5 centimeters and a height to diameter ratio greater than about 5.