Downstream green processes for recovery of bioactives from algae

Nowadays, macro- and microalgae are being increasingly used as promising raw materials for the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries, thanks to their biodiversity and its variety on valuable bioactive compounds such as carbohydrates, polyunsaturated lipids, proteins and pigments, among others. Furthermore, more efficient and environmentally friendly processes for bioactives’ recovery are requested not only by the industry but also by the society. This chapter presents an overview on the use of downstream green processes, mainly based on compressed fluids extraction techniques, in order to recover bioactives from algae that can be lately used in several potential applications for the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, which is the pillar of algae-based biorefinery.Peer reviewe

Biorefinery Concept as a Key for Sustainable Future to Green Chemistry—The Case of Microalgae

International audienceBiorefinery is a concept inspired from traditional oil refinery for petrol production, which enables to generate numerous bioproducts without any wastes from a unique source. This idea fits in with the actual context of sustainable development, where every part of the biomass treated is valorized through different unit operations in an economic and eco-friendly way to create high value-added compounds. Microalgae, a unique sustainable resource with a wide range of interesting biomolecules, could lead to a large quantity of biocompounds based on the biorefinery concept for cosmetic, pharmaceutical, food, feed, and health industries. This chapter provides a successful biorefinery case of microalgae from initial cultivation, harvesting, and green extraction of bioactive molecules to various potential applications in the end, which is heuristic for sustainable future to green chemistry