Open Access EDITORIAL Recent Advances in Plant Extract Stabilization Using Supercritical Fluids

The Open Chemical Engineering Journal is publishing a special issue, that is, a Hot Topic entitled “Recent advances in plant extract stabilization using supercritical fluids”. Six papers are included in this HT focusing in various aspects of applications of supercritical fluids to extract and stabilize plant extracts: two papers present new experimental data on co-precipitation of beta-carotene and polymer, one gives new data on modelling the system neem seeds / carbon dioxide using fuzzy logic, an innova-tion to the field. The other three articles are review articles dealing with different aspects of plant extract stabilization using supercritical carbon dioxide applied to essential oils, to carotenoids, and to phenolic compounds. The special issue provided an opportunity for publication of original peer-reviewed full-length research and review articles on new research findings and developments in stabilization of plant extracts using supercritical fluids. Bioactive compounds are used in the cosmetic, food, and pharmaceutical industries. New techniques to obtain these compounds from a variety of sources are continuously developed. An example of such technique is supercritical fluid extraction (SFE); this technique has proved to be technically viable for several types of solid substratum. Nonetheless, new experimental data and modelling work are still needed in order to transfer this technology to industry. Additional equilibrium data are also needed in order to optimize the separation step in SFE. The article by Giufrida et al. [1] presents new equilibrium data for ternary systems of CO2 + ethanol + curcumin and CO2 + ethyl acetate + curcumin. Curcuminoids are being acknowledged lately as an important supplement for preventing and even cure certain types of cancer. Franceschi et al. [2] provide new data for the co-precipitation of beta-caroten