Desenvolvimento e implantação de unidade piloto de precipitação de partículas usando antissolvente supercrítico (SAS)

Abstract

The interest in micro and nanoparticles has grown recently, since the technological advancement increased the possibilities for production and manipulation of these particles. The applications in different sectors, such as pigments, explosives, polymers, pharmaceuticals and superconductors, nanotechnology has increasingly attracted the interest of governments, academic researchers and industry. Among the technologies for obtaining micro- and nanoparticles, stand out those which make use of supercritical antisolvent (SAS). This method enables the obtainment of smaller particles with a more homogeneous size distribution than traditional ones, often eliminating the presence of residual solvent in the particles. In this context, this work aims to build, implant and perform validation test of a SAS process pilot unit, seeking the incorporation of this equipment as a technological tool for development and innovation associated with the production of nanoparticles. The implementation of this project started with the propose of SAS process flowchart; followed by sizing and acquisition of vessels, piping, valves and other necessary items for the equipment assembly, based on the supercritical extraction pilot plant installed at LOPE / PUCRS. In order to validate the equipment, caffeine particles were produced under different experimental conditions. The best performance of the precipitation process was achieved at 100 bar and 60 ° C. The caffeine particles obtained using the deployed equipment were analyzed for morphology and size using images taken by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the results were similar to those found in the literature.