Work

Advancing cleaner chemical engineering practices in nicotine extraction through supercritical CO2 technology

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The growing demand for nicotine-based products requires extraction processes that are not only efficient but also aligned with cleaner chemical engineering principles, including reduced solvent toxicity, improved process safety, and industrial scalability. However, most existing studies focus on laboratory-scale optimization and rarely integrate process selection with economic feasibility and cleaner production criteria. In this work, alternative nicotine extraction technologies are systematically evaluated using a hybrid fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making framework that incorporates technical performance, environmental impact, safety, and economic considerations under uncertainty. The results identify supercritical CO 2 extraction as the most suitable process, outperforming conventional and assisted extraction methods in terms of product quality, operational efficiency, emission reduction, and occupational safety. The selected process is experimentally validated through nicotine extraction from tobacco leaves, with performance quantified using three-stage high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). To assess industrial relevance, a techno-economic evaluation based on cost–benefit analysis is conducted, indicating economic feasibility under the base-case regional assumptions, with positive net present value, a benefit–cost ratio greater than unity, an attractive internal rate of return, and a monthly profitability range of $8500–$16,652. Robustness checks based on criterion-weight perturbation and WASPAS aggregation-parameter variation confirmed that the first-ranked alternative remained stable across plausible uncertainty scenarios. The originality of the work lies in the domain-specific integration of fuzzy MCDM-based technology ranking, experimental SC-CO 2 feasibility validation, and regional cost–benefit assessment for cleaner nicotine extraction, rather than in proposing a new MCDM algorithm. Overall, this study provides a scalable decision-support framework that links technology ranking, laboratory validation, and economic screening for cleaner nicotine extraction.

Source: Next Chemical Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.nxcen.2026.100108

Authors: Antonella Petrillo, Osama Javed, Zeshan Alam, Nehar Ullah, Saira Bano, Kashifullah Khan

Institutions: Parthenope University of Naples, University of Engineering and Technology Peshawar, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Wenzhou-Kean University

Language: English

Topic: Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $1,250