). In this system,
liquid carbon dioxide is pressurized in a cooled liquid pump
after which it goes through a Coriolis mass flow meter used to measure
the CO2 flow rate. The liquid stream is then heated to the
operating temperature in a vessel placed before the extractor column.
The solvent in the supercritical state then flows through the
extractor where the sample was previously loaded. Afterwards, the
effluent from the extractor is depressurized in a heated backpressure
regulator valve and collected in a cooled chamber with two
collecting vessels for subsequent GC–MS analysis. The total mass
of extract was determined gravimetrically.