Are supercritical fluids solvents for the future?

High pressure technologies involving sub and supercritical fluids offer the possibility to obtain new products with special characteristics or to design new processes which are environmentally friendly and sustainable. Using high pressure as a processing tool, the legal limitations for solvent residues and restrictions on use of conventional solvents in chemical processes can be avoided. Several sub and supercritical fluid technologies have already been developed to commercial scale. Extraction of valuable compounds from different materials and their in situ formulation in products with specific customer designed properties is one of the promising applications of high pressure technology. Particle formation using supercritical fluids overcomes the drawbacks of conventional particle size reduction processes. Unique thermodynamic and fluid-dynamic properties of dense gases can also be used for special impregnation of solid particles and particle coating. Impregnation into aerogels using supercritical carbon dioxide is an excellent way to improve the dissolution and bioavailability of poorly water soluble drugs. Some biochemical and chemical reactions performed in supercritical fluids have already been implemented on an industrial scale to obtain products with high added value. In this paper, some relevant applications and expected future development in the field of sub and supercritical fluids are reviewed.