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Review
. 2021 Sep 5;10(9):1417.
doi: 10.3390/antiox10091417.

Emerging Green Techniques for the Extraction of Antioxidants from Agri-Food By-Products as Promising Ingredients for the Food Industry

Serena Carpentieri  1 , Farid Soltanipour  1 , Giovanna Ferrari  1   2 , Gianpiero Pataro  1 , Francesco Donsì  1
Affiliations
Review

Emerging Green Techniques for the Extraction of Antioxidants from Agri-Food By-Products as Promising Ingredients for the Food Industry

Serena Carpentieri et al. Antioxidants (Basel). .

Abstract

Nowadays, the food industry is heavily involved in searching for green sources of valuable compounds, to be employed as potential food ingredients, to cater to the evolving consumers' requirements for health-beneficial food ingredients. In this frame, agri-food by-products represent a low-cost source of natural bioactive compounds, including antioxidants. However, to effectively recover these intracellular compounds, it is necessary to reduce the mass transfer resistances represented by the cellular envelope, within which they are localized, to enhance their extractability. To this purpose, emerging extraction technologies, have been proposed, including Supercritical Fluid Extraction, Microwave-Assisted Extraction, Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction, High-Pressure Homogenization, Pulsed Electric Fields, High Voltage Electrical Discharges. These technologies demonstrated to be a sustainable alternative to conventional extraction, showing the potential to increase the extraction yield, decrease the extraction time and solvent consumption. Additionally, in green extraction processes, also the contribution of solvent selection, as well as environmental and economic aspects, represent a key factor. Therefore, this review focused on critically analyzing the main findings on the synergistic effect of low environmental impact technologies and green solvents towards the green extraction of antioxidants from food by-products, by discussing the main associated advantages and drawbacks, and the criteria of selection for process sustainability.

Keywords: biorefinery; emerging technologies; green extraction; mass transfer resistances; process sustainability; solvent selection criteria.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phase diagram of carbon dioxide.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of cell rupture induced by microwave: rapid increase of temperature and pressure inside the cell, cell break down and release of target molecules.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mechanism of cell rupture induced by ultrasounds: cavitation bubble generation, bubble collapse, and cell wall fragmentation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Ultrasonic probe system and (b) ultrasonic bath system.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Schematics of a typical continuous flow PEF system, and cross-sectional views of different treatment chamber configurations; (a) parallel plate, (b) co-axial, (c) collinear, (the grey arrows are representative of the product flow).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Mechanism of cell disintegration induced by PEF: electroporation phenomenon.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mechanisms involved in the HVED process, enabling the cell disintegration and the release of target compounds: hydroxyl radical generation, electrical breakdown, collapse of cavitation bubbles, shock waves, and turbulence.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Schematics of the operating principle of a typical HPH system and focus on the homogenization valve.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Mechanism of cell disintegration induced by HPH.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Classification of the green extraction technologies as a function of the solvent used and the food residues source.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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