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Our Mission:

High pressure CO2 technology has several technical and environmental advantages and the products have health benefits compared to conventional processes. We believe these advantages should be utilized in as many industrial applications as possible.The main focus of our mission is the industrial realization of ideas generated by our customers or resulting from R&D using the experience we have accumulated in many years. This materialization process leads to an optimized selection of technology and well-balanced process and mechanical design.

Strengths of NATEX:

Ideas of our customers and results from research projects are tested in our lab unit (5 liters/1000 bar) and pilot plant (80 liters/550 bar). Then scale-up is carried out to determine yields and process parameters for industrial operation. In certain cases tests in existing large scale plants can be provided on a toll processing basis. During this procedure also economical aspects are investigated, so that investment and operating costscan be optimized. In this way first applications worldwide are created through product and process development in close cooperation with the customers. Further steps in the realization process are engineering, design of components, construction and manufacturing. Installation, commissioning and training of operating personnel complete our services as a one-stop-shop.For well-known applications standardized R&D units and commercial supercritical fluid extraction plants are available. Our product range also includes particle generation plants (CPF Concentrated Powder Form and PGSS - Particles From Gas Saturated Solutions) which are offered in standard sizes or as customized plants.Standard sizes of supercritical fluid extraction plants and particle generation equipment are listed on the website.

Technologies:

The high pressure extraction process is based on the principle that gases in a fluid state (above the critical pressure and the critical temperature) are able to dissolve larger quantities of natural substances than the partial pressure of the substance in the solvent would normally permit.For many applications supercritical fluid extraction has several advantages compared to conventional processes. Botanical ingredients sensitive to high temperatures can be extracted smoothly and selectively. There are no solvent residues in the extract or the raw material. Fragrances and aromas remain unchanged. Pure extracts are achieved with fewer process steps. The extraction agent CO2 is recycled and does not cause any environmental problems. The food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries are the main users of ingredients extracted with supercritical CO2, but new applications and new processes are developed and realized continuously like thin film extraction, particle formation, impregnation, cleaning of metallic parts, dyeing and cleaning of textiles, removal of undesired substances, chemical reactions and crystallization. In several of these new application fields research projects have already been carried out by NATEX,which guarantees that trends are not only monitored but converted into leading technology from Austria.

 

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Supercritical Fluid Extraction