Apeks Fabrication introduces new Valveless Expansion Technology for supercritical and subcritical CO2 botanical essential oil extraction equipment

Apeks Fabrication recently developed Valveless Expansion Technology for their popular line of supercritical and subcritical (liquid) CO2 botanical essential oil extraction equipment.

Apeks Fabrication recently developed Valveless Expansion Technology for their popular line of supercritical and subcritical (liquid) CO2 botanical essential oil extraction equipment. Valveless Expansion Technology (VET) combined with supercritical CO2 extraction methods represents the state of the art for essential oil extractions from botanical materials.

VET utilizes a proprietary decompression mechanism for separation of the extracted oils from the liquid or supercritical CO2 stream. VET has no constrictions and no let down valves to cause clogging in the system between the extraction vessel and the CO2 expansion separator where the extracted oil is collected. Flow of liquid CO2 and extracted oil travels unobstructed from the extraction vessel into the separator, and the oil is separated from the CO2 where it should be separated - in the collection vessel, not in a valve.

"Valveless Expansion Technology was developed to address a serious shortfall in supercritical CO2 extraction equipment", said Andy Joseph, President and CEO of Apeks Fabrication. "Production downtime resulting from oil clogged regulating valves was almost doubling extraction times for our customers, and many times caused significant loss of product. Valveless Expansion Technology is a leap forward in supercritical CO2 essential oil extraction."

With Valveless Expansion Technology, the flow of oil rich CO2 is unobstructed between the extraction chamber and the oil collection vessel. Unobstructed flow means no clogs that require system shutdown and depressurization, no loss of product in the flow lines due to premature expansion prior to the oil collection vessel, and no cleaning of valve internals. This feature is exclusively available on Apeks Fabrication's CO2 botanical extraction systems. Competitive systems use a regulating valve or a back pressure regulator to control the expansion of the CO2 and separate the oils. These valves have small passages and machined details that can collect oils and ultimately get clogged. No valve means no clog.

Carbon Dioxide is Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) by the FDA, is chemically inert, leaves no toxic residue, is a natural disinfectant, and is carbon neutral which makes it an ideal solvent for essential oil extractions. Health and beauty industries, herbal formula providers, perfume manufacturers, neutraceutical and pharmaceutical providers have all realized the benefits of CO2 extracted essential oils for many years.

Valveless Expansion Technology provides a significant improvement to the CO2 oil extraction equipment used in these industries.

In addition to supercritical and subcritical CO2 essential oil extraction equipment, Apeks Fabrication has a full line of industrial solvent based oil extraction, distillation and concentration systems, and can fabricate customized systems for specific applications.

Source: Apeks Fabrication