Samuel Perez-Vega, Ivan Salmeron, Ildebrando Perez-Reyes, Ebenezer Kwofie, and Michael Ngadi
S. Perez-Vega (*) · I. Salmeron · I. Perez-Reyes
School of Chemical Science, Autonomous, University of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico
e-mail: sperez@uach.mx
E. Kwofie · M. Ngadi (*)
Bioresource Engineering Department, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada
e-mail: michael.ngadi@mcgill.ca
Bioactives are metabolites synthesized by plants, where one of their main objectives is to contribute to the self-defense mechanism. Examples of food bioactives are pigments, carotenoids, omega -3 fatty acids, polyphenols, terpenes, lipids, vitamins, peptides, proteoglycans, and polysaccharides (Puri 2017). These specialty chemicals are typically found in low concentrations compared to macronutrients.
Therefore, they can be used as nutraceuticals in foods to improve the nutritional value or treat diseases.
The introduction of new non-conventional methods for the extraction of food bioactives has been a topic of interest for the last decades; this is necessary for improving traditional extraction. Conventional extraction shows excessive use of solvents, usually compromising yield, separation, toxicity, and environmental effects. As a result, new emerging technologies aim to replace conventional extraction in the coming years. The latter is a great challenge since yield and selectivity play a key role in selecting the most appropriate extraction method. In addition, aspects such as scale-up and cost are crucial when moving into an industrial scale. Therefore, these considerations are essential when selecting an extraction method in the laboratory during the early stages of process development.
For several years, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been employed to extract food bioactives. As a result, it is one of the most common processes employing supercritical fluids (SCF). Recently, there has been an interest in new technologies employing SCF, not only extraction (Asiri 2020). However, this chapter will focus only on SFE and its most significant control variables to successfully remove food bioactives.