Evaluating the Sustainability of Emerging Extraction Technologies for Valorization of Food Waste: Microwave, Ultrasound, Enzyme-Assisted, and Supercritical Fluid Extraction

Elixabet Díaz- de-Cerio and Esther Trigueros ()
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Elixabet Díaz- de-Cerio: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Esther Trigueros: Institute of Sustainable Processes, University of Valladolid, Paseo del Prado de la Magdalena 3-5, 47011 Valladolid, Spain

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-45

Abstract: Food industry generates substantial waste, raising economic and environmental concerns. Green Chemistry (GC) highlights the extraction of nutritional and bioactive compounds as a key strategy for waste valorization, driving interest in sustainable methods to recover valuable compounds efficiently. This review evaluates the sustainability of widely used emerging extraction technologies—Microwave-, Ultrasound- and Enzyme-Assisted, as well as Supercritical Fluid Extraction—and their alignment with GC principles for agri-food waste valorization. It first outlines the principles, key parameters, and main advantages and limitations of each technique. Subsequently, sustainability is then assessed in selected studies using the Analytical GREEnness Metric Approach (AGREEprep). By calculating the greenness score (GS), this metric quantifies the adherence of extraction processes to sustainability standards. The analysis reveals variations within the same extraction method, influenced by solvent choice and operating conditions, as well as differences across the techniques, highlighting the importance of process design in achieving green and efficient valorization.

Keywords: sustainability; greenness score; valorization; green chemistry; agricultural wastes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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