Dr. Mehdi Sedighi stated in an interview with the news unit of Qom University’s Public Relations that supercritical fluids are materials that are at conditions of temperature and pressure that have surpassed their thermodynamic critical point and have transformed into a state between liquid and gas, where the gas and liquid phases are indistinguishable from each other. These types of fluids can disperse like gases among solids or dissolve substances like liquids. This unique characteristic makes supercritical fluids powerful tools in the oil, chemical, pharmaceutical, food, and environmental industries.

He added that the supercritical fluid system is a complex high-pressure system used for utilizing materials in a supercritical state (such as CO₂, water, or hydrocarbons) in processes such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR), extraction, separation, chromatography, nanoparticle formulation, and cleanup.

 

The faculty member of the Chemical Engineering Department at Qom University emphasized that the supercritical fluid device has opened its place as a novel and sustainable technology in various industries as a superior alternative to traditional methods. Although initial costs and operational complexity are considered barriers, its numerous advantages, including product quality, safety, speed, and environmental compatibility, make it economically justifiable, especially for producing high-value-added products. Future advancements in energy optimization and scaling up these systems for larger industrial applications will further expand the use of this technology.

 

Dr. Sedighi noted that this device operates both statically and dynamically, making it one of the few devices available only in top universities in the country. This device will be used for patent registration and practical application in graduate theses as well as research projects.

The faculty member of the Chemical Engineering Department at Qom University concluded by reminding that the construction, evaluation, and testing of this device are subjects of the theses of graduate students Mr. Mohsen Mohammadi, Mr. Mohammad Shekari, Mr. Majid Hatami, and Mr. Jalal Abedi Zadeh, with consultation from Dr. Bani Fatemi and assistance from the central laboratory.