Swelling of plant material belonging to several plant families and the influence of swelling on supercritical fluid extraction process were investigated in this study. While swelling of Lamiaceae family species as well as hop cones and pellets occurred during the exposure of plant material to supercritical carbon dioxide, swelling of valerian root and ginger rhizome happened after the decompression step. Optimal pretreatment of herbaceous matrix which will enable commencement of continuous extraction from already swollen plant material was defined on the basis of swelling test results. Experimental results were modeled and energy savings due to the optimal processing on the laboratory scale were calculated. Sorption of carbon dioxide into the hop pellet was measured and the diffusion coefficient in the solid phase was determined. Obtained results indicated that the effective diffusion coefficient in the hop pellet was increased by one order of magnitude due to swelling. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.