Novel Strategies to Obtain Valuable and Sustainable Molecules from Citrus By-products

The citrus juice industry has seen tremendous growth globally, producing an abundance of citrus by-products such as peels, seeds, and pomace. These citrus by-products possess valuable compounds that have found applications in the food, medicinal, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. Traditional techniques such as maceration, hydrodistillation, and solid-phase extraction have been traditionally used to separate these valuable compounds, including pectin, essential oils, carotene, and limonene. Nevertheless, these techniques are associated with various drawbacks, including inefficiency, low yields, lengthy processes, and low purity. Consequently, there has been a quest for innovative techniques that can extract high-quality products at a low cost and with good yields. This chapter provides an exciting summary of novel strategies for citrus waste valorization, including ultrasound-assisted extraction, enzyme-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, sub/super critical extraction, and pulse electric field-assisted extraction. These advanced extraction techniques have demonstrated the ability to enhance the extraction rate by disrupting cell integrity, increasing mass diffusivity rate, and facilitating the solubilization of active compounds in solvents. However, it is important to note that each technique is associated with its own set of drawbacks, which must be carefully considered when selecting the most suitable approach for extracting active compounds from citrus waste.