Enzymatic Aqueous Extraction (EAE)

Abstract

Aqueous enzymatic extraction is employed for fractionation of plant raw material and for extraction of molecules of interest in a safe manner. For many years, the improvement of industrial enzymes lead to new potentialities and new products and implies today an entire rethinking of green extraction and its economic prospects. This chapter deals with enzymatic aqueous extraction as an alternative method for green extraction. The interests of the use of enzymatic mixtures during green extraction processes of natural molecules are detailed through successful and recent improvements. A focus is done on vegetable products. Advantages and drawbacks of enzymatic-based technologies are described: implementation, availability of enzymes, diversity of activities, development of new enzymatic activities, cost, safety, efficiency, etc. From lab to industrial scale, examples illustrate the state of the art in enzymatic aqueous extraction. These technologies are also considered through economical and environmental considerations dealing with actual knowledge. This allows us to envisage future industrial development of enzymatic aqueous extraction processes and to position them as green processes.