The Food Technology Centre (FTC), in partnership with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, is coordinating a Supercritical Fluid Extraction Workshop to be held at the Centre on March 25-27, 2008. The presenter will be Mr. Rodger Marentis, a consultant with many years of experience in this technology. FTC is accepting registrations from nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies from across Canada. Participants will be provided with a broad base of practical knowledge in the field of supercritical extraction.
This course focuses on the practical and theoretical background necessary for research, process development, and scale-up of commercial supercritical CO2 extraction applications. Fundamental theoretical principles and practices combined with pilot demonstrations will provide a comprehensive overview of the essential concepts of supercritical CO2 extraction and its practical application to natural products extraction.
Immediately following the workshop, there will be the opportunity for one-on-one or small group meetings with Mr. Marentis for those interested in discussing potential extraction processes in detail.
Registration information can be found at http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/ftc_SFE2008.pdf, or by contacting the Food Technology Centre.
Demand for natural products continues to grow in the global marketplace. Through the Atlantic Natural Products Development Initiative, two extraction processing suites and a new laboratory were added to the Food Technology Centre in 2005. Highly-skilled personnel have been attracted to PEI to carry out leading edge research on developing innovative technologies to extract high-value natural products with commercial potential.
The Atlantic Natural Products Development Initiative is being funded through a $4.9 million contribution from ACOA’s Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF). The Province of Prince Edward Island is providing $1.5 million. Industry partners are contributing through contracting Natural Products Extraction research services at FTC’s extraction facilities.
Qualifications of Rodger Marentis:
Rodger T. Marentis, President of Supercritical Solutions LLC (SSLLC) has worked in the field of supercritical fluid technology for over 25 years. He has developed SF technology processes for over 50 large multinational companies and over 40 smaller companies, in a wide variety of industries including food, flavor and fragrance, microelectronics, metal fabrication, automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, biotechnology, and environmental. The John I Haas Hops Extraction Facility at Yakima, Washington is an example of a commercial-scale plant for which he managed the commercializing effort.
He has implemented SFE product development, market research studies, and/or commercialization efforts for SF technology vendors such as: Applied Separations, CCSIS, Thar Designs, GaSonics International, AET, FERRO, Pressure Products Industries, Marc Sims SFE, Natex, Chematur, Supercritical Fluid Technologies, Eden Labs, Accudyne Systems and Eco Waste Technologies. He has extensive contacts within all major worldwide SFE equipment and component suppliers, and with university, government and private research laboratories that are sources of product and process development information.
Mr. Marentis gives seminars on SFE technologies, has written chapters for ACS symposium series books on designing commercial-scale SFE equipment, and has given over 30 technical papers at SF symposiums. He has held technical and commercial development positions in supercritical fluid technology with Union Carbide, Air Products & Chemicals, Pitt-Des Moines, and National Forge Company.