Extraction process using supercritical carbon dioxide

1. A process of extracting one or more components from a plant material, the process comprising:

a) providing a liquid-phase CO 2 supply at a known temperature;

b) providing a predetermined amount of the plant material in a pressure regulated extraction vessel having known/constant volume;

c) creating a temperature differential between said liquid-phase CO 2 supply and the extraction vessel, wherein the extraction vessel temperature is lower than the temperature of the liquid-phase CO 2 supply;

d) allowing CO 2 from liquid-phase CO 2 supply to flow into the extraction vessel due to the temperature differential, while maintaining the temperature differential between the liquid-phase CO 2 supply and the extraction vessel to load a target amount of the CO 2 to achieve a desired density of CO 2 in the extraction vessel;

e) heating said extraction vessel to achieve supercritical-phase CO 2 at desired predetermined pressure and temperature;

f) allowing said supercritical-phase CO 2 to reside in said extraction vessel at said predetermined temperature and pressure achieved in step e) for a time sufficient to ensure impregnation of the one or more components in the supercritical-phase CO 2 ;

g) cooling said component-impregnated supercritical-phase CO 2 so that the component-impregnated supercritical-phase CO 2 in the extraction vessel changes to component-impregnated liquid-phase CO 2 ; and

h) transferring said component-impregnated liquid-phase CO 2 into a collection vessel at a pressure lower than that of the extraction vessel and/or into a collection vessel with higher available volume, thereby decreasing the density of said liquid-phase CO 2 to convert said liquid-phase CO 2 into gaseous-phase CO 2 , thereby allowing the one or more components to be separated from the CO 2 .

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein said liquid-phase CO 2 supply is obtained at a temperature same or similar as the temperature of the extraction vessel, and the temperature differential is created by heating the liquid-phase CO 2 supply to a predetermined temperature above the temperature of the extraction vessel and/or cooling the extraction vessel before and/or during the loading of the liquid-phase CO 2 into the extraction vessel.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said liquid-phase CO 2 supply is obtained at a temperature lower that the temperature of the extraction vessel, and the temperature differential is created by first heating said liquid-phase CO 2 supply to a predetermined temperature above the temperature of the extraction vessel, optionally followed by cooling the extraction vessel before and/or during loading of the liquid-phase CO 2 into the extraction vessel.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said liquid-phase CO 2 supply is obtained at a temperature higher than the initial temperature of the extraction vessel, thereby creating the desired temperature differential, and optionally cooling the extraction vessel before and/or during the loading of the liquid-phase CO 2 into the extraction vessel.

5. The process of claim 1 , wherein said extraction vessel is cooled via a heat transfer fluid.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein said heat transfer fluid is one or more of air, water, ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, mineral oils, or silicone oils.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said desired density is about 700 kg/m 3 to about 850 kg/m 3 .

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said predetermined amount of liquid-phase CO 2 in step d) is between 66% and 100% of the volume available in the extraction vessel containing the plant material.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein in step e) the predetermined pressure is between 750 psi and 5,000 psi and the temperature is between 24° C. and 75° C.

10. The process of claim 1 , further comprising collecting and cooling said gaseous-phase CO 2 in a pre-cooled recapture tank and recycling same for the extraction process.