The breadth and intensity of supercritical particle formation research with an emphasis on publication and patent disclosures

The drawbacks of the conventional mechanical treatments for particle micronization often resulting in product damage or performance degradation have highlighted the need for alternative particle formation processes. The aim of this study was to shed light on the trends of the scientific studies and innovations in the field of particle formation using supercritical fluids (SCF) in order to observe the progress of science and technology and to satisfy the need for a global view of research activities. The publications in the ISI Web and the patents in a patent database were screened using nine different keywords in title or topics. A total of 939 journal publication and 206 patent disclosures between 1980-2009, with the contributions of 3588 authors and 604 innovators, were found to focus on particle formation using SCF. The results showed that the majority of the publication (59.2%) and patent (40.3%) disclosures were related to antisolvent precipitation and rapid expansion of SCF (18.3, 16%). Patents originating from United States (56.8%) were dominating, followed by those from the European Union (30.1%) and Japan (9.2%). The analysis revealed the appetite of the companies for commercialization (73.8%), which can be interpreted as an indicator of upcoming industrial applications. © 2010 American Chemical Society