Recovery of primary and secondary plant metabolites by pulsed electric field treatment

Abstract

Extraction of bioactive compounds or secondary plant metabolites safely and efficiently is one of the problems for the food industry. Moreover traditional methods, such as Soxhlet extraction, which have been used for many decades, are very time consuming and require relatively large quantities of solvents. And hence there is a need for an extraction technology which has short extraction time and reduced organic solvent consumption. In recent years several extraction techniques have been proposed. And in the quest of more efficient method for industrial production pulsed electric field (PEF) extraction technique has emerged as a potential technology. This technique is based on the conventional pulsed electric field (PEF), and provides higher electric field intensity and special continuous extraction system, which has led to reduced extraction time, higher extraction yield, and mild processing temperatures and has minimal effect on heat-sensitive biomolecule and nutritional properties. Moreover the application of moderate pulsed electric fields requires low energy inputs and may even induce the generation of certain bioactive compounds when treating metabolically active tissues. PEF extraction technique is a green technology, waste-free technology, cost-effective as well as an energy efficient process. This chapter is devoted to introduce the recent achievement of PEF extraction techniques for plant-based materials. The key focus will be on extracting large molecules, i.e., proteins, peptides, polysaccharides.