Supercritical fluid contamination monitor.

摘要

A system for monitoring changes in the amount of contaminants present in a flowing stream of supercritical fluid. A sample stream is removed from a flowing stream of supercritical fluid and subjected to reduced pressure. The supercritical fluid turns into gas at the reduced pressure with the contaminants remaining in a non-gaseous form. A quartz crystal microbalance system measures changes in the amount of non-gaseous contaminants present in the sample stream. The system is useful in monitoring both cleaning processes and extraction processes utilizing supercritical fluids. <IMAGE>