What is Supercritical CO₂ Extraction?
When CO₂ is brought above 31.1 °C and 73.8 bar simultaneously, it enters a supercritical state — neither gas nor liquid, but carrying the properties of both. In this state it penetrates plant tissue like a gas and dissolves target compounds like a solvent. When pressure is released, the CO₂ simply evaporates, leaving behind a clean extract with no chemical residues.
This makes it uniquely suited to heat-sensitive active compounds — terpenes, essential oils, antioxidants, and pigments that would degrade under conventional steam distillation or solvent extraction. The result is an extract that reflects the plant's true chemistry: high purity, full spectrum, and completely free of residual solvents.
The Extraction Process
From raw plant material to finished extract, our supercritical CO₂ process follows six controlled stages. Each step is monitored and documented to ensure consistency, purity, and full traceability.
Raw Material Selection
Botanical material is sourced, inspected, and tested for identity, moisture content, and contaminants. Only material meeting our specifications enters the process.
Grinding & Conditioning
Plant material is milled to optimal particle size and conditioned to the right moisture level. Proper preparation maximizes extraction efficiency and yield.
Supercritical Extraction
CO₂ is pressurized above 73.8 bar and heated above 31°C to reach supercritical state. It flows through the plant bed, selectively dissolving target compounds — lipids, terpenes, antioxidants — based on pressure and temperature settings.
Separation & Fractionation
Pressure is reduced in separator vessels. CO₂ returns to gas phase and releases the dissolved extract. Multiple separators at different pressures allow fractionation — isolating essential oils from heavier oleoresins.
CO₂ Recovery & Recycle
The gaseous CO₂ is recondensed and recycled back into the system. Our closed-loop process recovers over 99% of CO₂, minimizing environmental impact and operating costs.
Analysis & Quality Control
Every batch is analyzed in our in-house laboratory using GC-MS, GC-FID, and HPLC. Active compound content is quantified, purity is verified, and full documentation — TDS, MSDS, COA — is prepared before release.
Altraflora's Experience
Supercritical CO₂ extraction is still emerging in Turkey. Altraflora is among the few companies that has been running this technology operationally — not as a pilot or a proof of concept, but in active, ongoing production.
Superex SC-1000
Superex P-60
Superex P-600
Plants we have worked with
Aromatics, oily seeds, medicinal herbs, functional food ingredients, and active pharmaceutical-grade compounds — we have run extraction processes across all four categories.
What Does This Mean for Your Sector?
The advantages of CO₂ extraction are not abstract — they translate directly into formulation and labelling benefits. Every lot we ship is verified in our own laboratory by GC-MS, GC-FID and HPLC, and comes with TDS and MSDS measured in-house.
Food & Nutraceuticals
Solvent-free process means clean-label ingredients with no residual-solvent declarations. Low temperatures preserve heat-sensitive actives, so standardized compounds like carnosic acid or thymoquinone arrive at full declared potency.
Cosmetics
No ethanol or hexane traces to worry about in your INCI story. The full lipid and volatile profile of the plant survives the process — which matters for actives like squalene from amaranth in skin-care formulations.
Feed & Pet Food
Residue-free natural antioxidants — rosemary and sage extracts standardized to carnosic acid — as documented alternatives to synthetic additives in feed and pet food formulations.
Planning Your Own SFE Investment?
Supercritical extraction is a specialized field. Even teams with a strong scientific background run into open questions when planning a first system: Is the capacity right for my raw material? Which process parameters will actually deliver the yield? What documentation will my customers demand? These questions are worth settling before you sit down with an equipment vendor — and that is where we come in. We run supercritical extraction in daily production, at both laboratory and industrial scale, and we put that experience at your service.
Capacity & Fit Assessment
We operate both laboratory-scale and industrial-scale units, so we can tell you from experience whether a system's capacity and configuration actually match your raw material and target output — before you commit to the investment.
Process Development
An SFE system delivers its value through process know-how. We help you develop the extraction parameters — pressure, temperature, time, co-solvent — for your specific material, so the system runs efficiently and trouble-free from the first production batches.
Documentation & Quality
Certification questions start with the first commercial batch: TDS, MSDS, COA. Our analytical laboratory provides batch analysis and the documentation your customers will ask for — so your extracts carry scientific backing from day one.
See our process development & quality lab →Supercritical extraction demands experience.
Reach out to discuss your project — whether it's sourcing an extract, certifying a product, or planning a new facility from the ground up.