Pressurized Liquid Extraction for the Recovery of Bioactive Compounds from Seaweeds for Food Industry Application: A Review

While the Western world largely overlooks seaweed, this marine powerhouse is packed with valuable compounds just waiting for the right extraction tools.

Seaweeds are nutritional powerhouses rich in polysaccharides, proteins, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and bioactive pigments. To harness these treasures for the food industry, advanced techniques are essential. Enter pressurized liquid extraction (PLE): a green technology using high temperatures, pressure, and solvents to pull target compounds from solid matrices with impressive speed, lower solvent use, and high yields.

To make PLE work at its best, scientists must meticulously optimize parameters like temperature, pressure, time, and solvent choice. Interestingly, pairing PLE with supercritical fluid extraction using carbon dioxide emerges as a top-tier strategy, offering both superior yields and economic feasibility for industrial scale-up.

Ultimately, these seaweed extracts are capturing the food industry's attention. Producers are eager to integrate them into animal feed, food products, and sustainable packaging solutions—including edible coatings, bioplastics, and bio-nanocomposites—to boost both nutritional profiles and technological performance.

Key Points

• Pressurized liquid extraction uses high temperature and pressure efficiently.
• Combining PLE with CO2 extraction offers superior yields and feasibility.
• Seaweed extracts enhance food products, animal feed, and packaging.