Towards sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing: The rise of supercritical fluid technology

Supercritical fluid (SCF) technology has emerged as an environmentally benign platform that bridges chemistry, materials science, and pharmaceutical engineering. Owing to its tunable physicochemical properties, SCF technology enables precise control over solubility, selectivity, and particle morphology, thereby supporting drug discovery and formulation development. This review provides a critical analysis of advances in SCF-based methodologies, with a particular focus on their applications in pharmaceutical development. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) is highlighted for its ability to selectively recover bioactive phytochemicals and complex natural products under mild conditions and with reduced reliance on toxic organic solvents. Meanwhile, the supercritical antisolvent (SAS) process has shown potential in the design of drug delivery systems, enabling the encapsulation of poorly soluble drugs into nanoparticles or microcarriers with improved dissolution and bioavailability. Beyond molecular-level manipulation, Supercritical fluids have also been applied to the fabrication of hierarchical and porous biomaterials has opened new frontiers in tissue engineering. By integrating insights from recent literature and emerging industrial practices, this review discusses the environmental compatibility, scalability, and capacity of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) technology to generate high-purity, tailor-made products. Finally, the paper identifies key challenges and discusses future research directions for expanding the role of SCF processes in pharmaceutical innovation. Collectively, these perspectives highlight the value of SCF technology in sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing and precision material design.