Green & Clean Technologies For Novel Nutraceuticals

Bioactive compounds such as Nutraceuticals are extracted from natural sources and they play a major role in improving human health by acting as antimicrobial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other health promoting actions. Natural sources like plants, food by-products, algae, micro-algae, are the basic raw materials. Extraction processes for these compounds depend on several factors such as the technique that is used, the raw material, and the organic solvent.

Conventional techniques generally require large amounts of utilities like solvents and energy as well they are time consuming, which has generated interest in new technologies that are sustainable referred to as clean or green technologies. These can reduce or eliminate the use of toxic solvents, and thus preserve the natural environment and its resources.

Utilization of green technologies for the extraction of bioactive compounds have several advantages such as reduction of the processing time, energy consumption, and the uses of harmful and expensive solvents and increase in the extraction yields.

The extraction efficiency of conventional methods such as Soxhlet, Maceration, Percolation, and Hydrodistillation mainly depends on the choice of solvents and major challenges of conventional extraction are longer extraction time, the requirement of costly and high purity solvent, evaporation of the huge…