Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction for Food, Pharmacy, and Biotech Industries

Extraction is an important step in the route of phytochemical processing for the discovery of bioactive constituents from plant materials. The extraction technique plays a significant role in the yield, chemical structure, and bioactivity of the extracts. Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) has been widely applied as a novel, green, and rapidly developing extraction method suitable for upscaling and improving the extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds. UAE has substantial advantages such as low consumption of solvent and energy, simplification of manipulation and work-up, high extraction yield and purity of the final product, and fewer damages of active compounds, over the conventional Soxhlet extraction and cold maceration. UAE can also provide the opportunity for enhanced extraction of heat-sensitive bioactive and food components at lower processing temperatures. Ultrasound-assisted herbal extracts exhibit higher anticancer, antimicrobial, and antidiabetic activities than extracts prepared through conventional methods. Nowadays most of the industry-based extractions are carried out using UAE as full extraction can be completed in minutes with high reproducibility. UAE of herbal, oil, protein, polysaccharide, bioactive compounds, such as phenolics, flavonoids, and natural colors, which have importance in food, pharmaceutical, and allied industries, is discussed here.