title: Recent patents on the extraction of carotenoids.
abstract: This article reviews the patents that have been presented during the last decade related to the extraction of carotenoids from various forms of organic matter (fruit, vegetables, animals), with an emphasis on the methods and mechanisms exploited by these technologies, and on technical solutions for the practical problems related to these technologies. I present and classify 29 methods related to the extraction processes (physical, mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic). The large number of processes for extraction by means of supercritical fluids and the growing number of large-scale industrial plants suggest a positive trend towards using this technique that is currently slowed by its cost. This trend should be reinforced by growing restrictions imposed on the use of most organic solvents for extraction of food products and by increasingly strict waste management regulations that are indirectly promoting the use of extraction processes that leave the residual (post-extraction) matrix substantially free from solvents and compounds that must subsequently be removed or treated. None of the reviewed approaches is the best answer for every extractable compound and source, so each should be considered as one of several alternatives, including the use of a combination of extraction approaches.
authors.affiliation: CNR ISAFOM, National Research Council, Italy - Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems in the Mediterranean, Str. le Lancia, Blocco Palma I, Zona Industriale 95121 - Catania, Italy. ezio.riggi@cnr.it
authors.forename: Ezio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riggi
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D025924:Chromatography, Supercritical Fluid / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste; D010330:Patents as Topic; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D002338:Carotenoids