Micronization processes with supercritical fluids: Fundamentals and mechanisms

Supercritical fluid techniques for materials precipitation have been proposed as an alternative to conventional precipitation processes as they allow to improve the performance of these processes in terms of reduction of particle size and control of morphology and particle size distribution, without degradation or contamination of the product. These techniques have received much attention during the last years, and their feasibility and performance have been experimentally demonstrated for many substances. One of the main pending tasks is the development of a systematic procedure for the design and scale-up of these processes. This requires not only empirical knowledge, but also information about the fundamentals of the process. This work aims to review the published literature dealing with a fundamental investigation or modeling of supercritical fluid precipitation processes.