Question

A pharmaceutical company wants to extract an ingredient from pomace supplied by a certain food processing plant. What are two methods they might chose to use? How could different criteria and/or constraints affect the decision on how to extract the material? In three to five sentences, describe two methods, including one criterion and one constraint that would affect extraction methods.(4 points)

Answer 1

Two methods the pharmaceutical company might consider for extracting ingredients from pomace are solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction. Solvent extraction involves using a liquid solvent to dissolve the desired compounds, which can be effective and economical; however, the criterion of safety would be important, as some solvents can be toxic. Supercritical fluid extraction, on the other hand, utilizes supercritical carbon dioxide to extract compounds without leaving harmful residues, which can meet safety and purity constraints but may be more expensive due to higher equipment and operating costs. The choice between these methods would depend on balancing cost-effectiveness, safety regulations, and the desired purity of the extracted ingredient.