s-l-g (solid-liquid-gas) phase transition of cocoa butter in supercritical co2

Phase equilibrium data (solid-liquid-gas) for cocoa butter and carbon dioxide were determined in view if their importance in design of PGSS (particles from gas saturated solutions) micronization process. The mutual solubility in the system cocoa butter/CO2 was measured by the static-analytic method in the temperature range of 30-80 °C and pressure range of 1-30 MPa. The experiments on solid-liquid (S-L) transition for cocoa butter in the presence of carbon dioxide were performed by the modified capillary method in a high pressure optical cell. For the production of finely dispersed cocoa butter by expanding CO2-saturated solutions, the initial guess indicates that the starting conditions should be near the liquefaction curve in order to allow the solid-liquid region to be reached after expansion.