Supercritical fluid simulated moving bed chromatography for the separation of ethyl linoleate and ethyl oleate

Supercritical fluid-simulated moving bed (SF-SMB) chromatography is an attractive technology thanks to the outstanding performance of continuous countercurrent adsorption processes in combination with the tunability of eluent strength of supercritical CO2. This work focuses on the process development steps of simulated moving bed chromatography for the separation of ethyl linoleate and ethyl oleate on silica gel using supercritical carbon dioxide under linear conditions. Adsorption isotherms of the components of interest were determined at analytical scale and applied together with the equilibrium theory for the design of a two-step SF-SMB process for the separation of the fatty acid ethyl esters. Results of the experimental validation of the continuous chromatographic separation of ethyl linoleate and ethyl oleate are shown and discussed in detail.

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► We design a two-step SF-SMB process for the separation of fatty acid ethyl esters based on batch experiments.
► We carry out an experimental validation of the design under linear conditions.
► We describe the concept of multicomponent separation using supercritical simulated moving bed chromatography.