Separation of Oil-Contaminated Glass Grinds by Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE)

Abstract

An extraction method is presented which relies on supercritical carbon dioxide as extractant. The development of the method and its demonstration in a bench-scale facility are described by the example of residues with high mineral oil and lead contents from machining optical glasses, the so-called glass grinds. By the extraction method, the oil can be recovered from the grinds in such a quality that direct recycling as grinding oil is possible.