The Laboratory of Supercritical Fluid Extraction as a part of the Department of Separation Processes is situated at the Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals (ICPF) of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.


The Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, founded in 1960 in Prague, functions as a center for advanced research in chemical, biochemical, catalytic and environmental engineering and it acts as a graduate school for postgraduate studies in the fields of chemical engineering, physical chemistry, industrial chemistry, and biotechnology.


The Department of Separation Processes was initially oriented to conventional separation processes like gas absorption/desorption, solvent extraction, and heat and mass transfer in packed columns. Nowadays, the main interests of the department are the research of microaparatus for reaction and separation processes, liquid and supercritical extraction, and membrane separations.


The Laboratory of Supercritical Fluid Extraction was founded in the 80's to study the extraction of natural products by supercritical CO2 with special interest in mathematical modelling the process. Nowadays, the research is oriented to two main fields - supercritical extraction of biologically active substances from plants coupled with the fractionation of extracts obtained this way, and enzymatic reactions carried out in supercritical carbon dioxide. Besides fundamental research in the field of process properties, we are interested in collaboration with industrial subjects in order to optimize the processes for their application in practice.