What’s the Differences Between Subcritical and Supercritical Extraction?

Similarities

• Subcritical and supercritical extraction are both pressurized low temperature extraction process. They share the same advantages such as premium extracts with high bioactivity, high extraction rate, short extraction time, no solvent residual, etc.
• The extraction solvent of both subcritical and subcritical is gas under ambient temperature and pressure, and becomes liquid under specific temperature and pressure.
• They share the similar working principle. The desolventizing process is both based on reduced pressure to make the solvent turn into gas and then be evaporated completely.

Differences

• The operating pressure of supercritical is normally above 25MPa, which make the equipment manufacturing and running costs very high, while the extraction pressure of subcritical is much lower, so the equipment is cheaper.
• High pressure also limited the output of supercritical extraction process, making it only feasible for small scale production. While subcritical is capable of 0.1~200 tons per day large project.