Particle Formation with Supercritical Fluids

Particle formation with supercritical fluids is a promising alternative to conventional precipitation processes as it allows the reduction of particle size and control of morphology and particle size distribution without degradation or contamination of the product. The book comprehensively examines the current status of research and development and provides perspectives and insights on promising future directions. The introduction to high pressure and high temperature phase equilibria and nucleation phenomena provides the basic principles of the underlying physical and chemical phenomena, allowing the reader an understanding of the relationship between process conditions and particle characteristics. Bridging the gap between theory and application, the book imparts the scientific and engineering fundamentals for innovative particle formation processes. The interdisciplinary "modus operandi" will encourage cooperation between scientists and researchers from different but complementary disciplines.

Michael Türk received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universität Karlsruhe (Technische Hochschule). In 1993 M. Türk completed his PhD thesis in the field of thermodynamic properties and intermolecular interactions of binary gaseous mixtures. In his professorial dissertation of 2001 a theory was proposed allowing understanding of the relationship between process conditions and the properties of organic particles produced by supercritical fluid based processes. His current research activities are focused on the use of supercritical fluids (mainly CO2 and H2O) as media to prepare organic, inorganic and metallic materials by physical transformation or chemical reaction and the development of new, energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly strategies to create novel products with extraordinary performance for pharmaceutical, energy and biomedical applications. So far, M. Türk has authored 125 articles (including 13 book chapters); has graduated 20 PhD students (10 as supervisor and 10 as co-advisor) and more than 50 Diploma / Master and 15 Bachelor students.

1. Introduction 2. Fundamentals 3. Basics of particle formation processes4. Formation of organic particles using a supercritical fluid as solvent 5. Formation of organic particles using a supercritical fluid as anti-solvent 6. Formation of organic particles using a supercritical fluid as solute 7. Formation of inorganic particles using a supercritical fluid as reaction media8. State of the art modeling particle formation in supercritical fluids 9. Conclusions