Separeco s.r.l

Separeco has a rich history and a wealth of experience spanning 25 years. In 2005, a group of visionary entrepreneurs founded Separeco, building on the experience gained since 1995 in Exenia, a research and development company. Their goal was to replace traditional extraction methods, which used chemical solvents that were harmful to both the environment and human health. Instead, have developed an innovative and environmentally friendly technology that produces extracts of unprecedented purity without releasing pollutants or undesirable residues into the final product.

Separeco is a company technology-intensive, focuses on the design and construction of plants using supercritical fluid technology. This allows us to extract desired compounds from raw materials, remove unwanted and harmful elements, or micronize high-value pharmaceutical compounds. Our natural extracts find application in various fields, including the foods, natural flavorings, food supplements, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In addition, our technology is also useful in applications for chemical solvent removal, aerogel drying in civil construction, deep cleaning in the aviation industry, and upgrading of various materials. Our technology represents a promising opportunity for the future.

Our core business is extraction plants in CO2 supercritical: alongside the traditional system configuration using a single extractor, we have introduced the configuration with two and three extractors, the most popular ones.

Our systems can be equipped with 3, 4 or 5 separators. The number of separators depends on the different fractions to be obtained. The different configurations make it possible to discriminate the compounds that are precipitated in each separator. In addition to traditional temperature controls, pressure controls are also available. This solution enables supercritical conditions not only in the extractors but also in the separators, greatly increasing the selectivity of the separators toward the various extracted compounds.

We also offer micronization and powder spraying plants using the CO2. Micronization, in fact, is emerging as one of the emerging technologies that can modify the biological response to the intake of active ingredients such as drugs in general, antibiotics, etc., well defined by the term bioavailability.

It is easy to find many solutions for the micronization of hydrophilic substances, but very few for lipophilic ones. Now the formation of micrometer- and nanoscale particles is possible largely using the energy of CO2. We offer multiple solutions and technologies to produce micronized lipophilic and hydrophilic matrices. These include NEA (Nearcritical Expansion Atomization), PGSS (Particles From Gas-Saturated Solutions) and SAS (Supercritical Anti Solvent). We can make plants to micronize polymers used for drug delivery, micronize antibiotics, coat them with adjuvant substances that can protect APIs from attacks by gastric juices, and promote absorption of drug substances.

We can design solvent removal equipment for all those applications where it is necessary to remove substances that are difficult to handle because they are toxic or flammable. In these cases, the use of SC- CO2 is a huge advantage and currently also when it is necessary to remove unwanted components such as pesticides, malodorous compounds, or when it is useful to decolorize a matrix.

Finally, we offer the opportunity to test processes. We are always ready to evaluate innovative projects that target new applications for supercritical fluids.