Patent ID: 8778181

Claim:
A particle formation and collection equipment assembly comprising: at least one high pressure particle formation system comprising a pressurizable precipitation chamber comprising a supercritical fluid (SCF) inlet, a process fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, a process fluid disperser configured to disperse process fluid into the chamber, wherein the system is configured to form a particle-containing high pressure liquid suspension; at least one tandem particle filtration system comprising: a) at least one high pressure harvesting filter system comprising at least one gas supply, at least one porous element, and a housing defining a cavity, wherein the system is configured to receive a particle-containing high pressure liquid suspension from the particle formation system, to filter the high pressure liquid suspension through the porous element such that particles are retained in the cavity and high pressure liquid passes through the porous element in a first forward process direction, to flow a low pressure gas from the gas supply through the porous element in a second reverse process direction, and to dispense a particle-containing low pressure gaseous suspension, wherein process direction is with respect to flow through the porous element; and b) at least one low pressure collection filter system in tandem and downstream to the harvesting filter and configured to receive a particle-containing low pressure gaseous suspension from the harvesting filter, to separate gas from particles and to dispense particles to at least one collection system; and at least one particle collection system comprising at least one collection vessel and being configured to receive and collect particles from either filter.