Recommended technique
Separation handle: Lipid / pigment extraction.
Scope: Solubility in scCO2. CAPEX range: $500k-$3M.
Property comparison
| Property | Beta-Carotene | Glucose |
|---|---|---|
| Molecular weight | 536.9 Da | 180.16 Da |
| Solubility (water) | 1.00e-04 g/L | 909 g/L |
| Charge | 0 | 0 |
| Isoelectric point | — | — |
| pKa | — | 12.28 |
| Density | 1.0 g/cm³ | 1.54 g/cm³ |
| Diffusion coefficient | 3.00e-06 cm²/s | 6.73e-06 cm²/s |
| Log P | 15.5 | -3.24 |
Process design walkthrough
Define your feed stream
Set Beta-Carotene and Glucose as components with their concentrations and physical properties. Use the molecule database to auto-populate properties.
Drop in Supercritical CO2 Extraction
Connect the feed inlet, configure operating parameters (MWCO, pH, eluent, residence time as relevant), and connect the two outlets to product and waste streams.
Run the simulation
untangle.bio calculates outlet concentrations using mass balance and the separation function for this technique. Iterate on parameters to optimise yield vs purity.
Add polishing if needed
If the single step doesn't meet your purity spec, add a second separation with a complementary handle (e.g., size after charge, hydrophobicity after size).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Supercritical CO2 Extraction the right choice for this pair?
Supercritical CO2 Extraction exploits lipid / pigment extraction as the separation handle. The property gap between Beta-Carotene and Glucose on this axis is large enough to give a clean separation in a single step at industrially relevant flow rates.
What yield and purity can I expect?
Typical single-step recovery is 85-99% depending on operating conditions. Purity from a single supercritical co2 extraction step is in the 90-99% range; polishing steps push above 99.5%.
What does this step cost to operate?
Capital cost for Supercritical CO2 Extraction at biotech scale is in the $500k-$3M range. Operating cost depends on scale, feed concentration, and product value. See the technique page for details.
How do I design this in untangle.bio?
Drop a supercritical co2 extraction unit operation into the flowsheet, connect the feed stream containing both Beta-Carotene and Glucose, and the simulator will calculate mass balance and expected outlet concentrations using the molecule database properties.
Design this separation in untangle.bio
Build a flowsheet, simulate yield and purity, and estimate CAPEX for separating Beta-Carotene from Glucose.
Open untangle.bio