CO2 Applications

CO₂ is often utilized in a variety of processes within the extraction, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries among many others. Let’s take a quick look at these applications and the benefits of various CO₂ applications among these many industries:

Food and Beverage:  

Among the most popular CO₂ applications, liquid or solid CO₂ (dry ice) is commonly used in these industries as a method of cooling, quick freezing, and refrigeration. It is also used to carbonate beverages such as sodas, beers, and wine. This is a great way to prevent fungal and bacterial growth in these beverages. It can also be used to neutralize drinking water.

Extraction CO₂ Applications:

In its liquid form, CO₂ is an excellent solvent capable of extracting desired and undesired compounds from a food, beverage or other material. A longstanding use of this extraction method is the decaffeination of coffee. It is also used to create essential oils and herbal supplements as well. More recently, supercritical CO₂ has become an extraction method of choice in the hemp and botanical extraction industry. Using CO₂ as an extraction solvent as opposed to ethanol or hydrocarbons reduces the chance to leave unwanted residuals in a final hemp extract product.

Blasting:

Dry ice pellets are often used as an alternative to sandblasting when removing paint from surfaces. This drastically reduces the need and costs for cleanup and disposal that would result from sandblasting as the dry ice sublimates after use leaving little to no waste product after the blasting is done.

Environmental CO₂ Applications:

CO₂ can be used as a propellant in replacement of less “green” alternatives found in aerosol cans. Manufacturing operations that use solvents for extraction often convert to CO₂ in an effort to be more mindful of their environmental impact.

Laser Cutting:

CO₂ powered lasers are commonly used for engraving, cutting and boring by passing an electric current through the gas. These high powered lasers can cut through steel, fabrics, ceramics, wood, glass and even titanium.

Welding Gas:

CO₂ is also used for a variety of welding applications as a welding gas in combination with argon. The benefit of using CO₂ as a welding gas is the prevention of airborne contamination from molten metals because of the purity of CO₂.

Whether you are in pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, extraction or any other industry that uses CO_{2 applications}, extraktLAB has a solution with the CO₂Cage and MPCart system. Contact us today to find out how the extraktLAB solution will benefit you today.