This review presents a complete picture of current knowledge on ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) in food ingredients and products, nutraceutics, cosmetic, pharmaceutical and bioenergy applications. It provides the necessary theoretical background and some details about extraction by ultrasound, the techniques and their combinations, the mechanisms (fragmentation, erosion, capillarity, detexturation, and sonoporation), applications from laboratory to industry, security, and environmental impacts. In addition, the ultrasound extraction procedures and the important parameters influencing its performance are also included, together with the advantages and the drawbacks of each UAE techniques. Ultrasound-assisted extraction is a research topic, which affects several fields of modern plant-based chemistry. All the reported applications have shown that ultrasound-assisted extraction is a green and economically viable alternative to conventional techniques for food and natural products. The main benefits are decrease of extraction and processing time, the amount of energy and solvents used, unit operations, and CO emissions.

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This review introduces a new and innovative area in the frontiers of chemistry, biology and processing: green extraction with special emphasis on natural products processing. Green extraction is a part of the sustainable development and industrial strategy; its history, concept, principles, and fundamentals are described. We pay special attention to the strategies and the tools available to make biorefinery greener. This review presents the innovative research in this area in the past five years in terms of innovative techniques (microwave, ultrasound, instantaneous pressure drop, supercritical fluid extraction, pressing) applied to green extraction of natural products with special examples applied to biorefinery concept.

This study aims at total valorization of fruit and vegetable by-products, moving towards developing an original concept of “dry” bio-refinery (DBR).

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Secoisolariciresinol (SECO) is a natural antioxidant lignan accumulated in large amounts in the seedcoat of flax and retained in the flaxseed cake residue during linseed oil pressing. Here SECO was extracted and purified from flaxseed cake and assayed for its ability to prevent oxidation of linseed oil and an o/w emulsion containing linseed oil. For this purpose, an accelerated storage (Schaal oven) test was performed and SECO effectiveness was compared to that of two antioxidants commonly used in food and cosmetic products: α‐tocopherol (α‐TOCO) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). In our hands, SECO addition, ranging from 50 to 500 μmole per kg oil, significantly decreased the production of both primary (conjugated dienes, CD) and secondary (thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances, TBARS) oxidation products. This study evidenced that SECO is an effective stabilizer of linseed oil and its o/w emulsion and this protective effect outperformed both the natural α‐TOCO and the synthetic BHA antioxidants. In particular, SECO was the most effective in the protection of the o/w emulsion against secondary oxidation products, which makes it a potential alternative preservative for oily products in foods and cosmetics. Practical applications: The present study could lead to applications in the food and cosmetic industries for the stabilization of o/w emulsions. Addition of SECO to linseed oil, already rich in ω‐3, could also result in a new functional food with synergistic beneficial actions on human health. Secoisolariciresinol, a natural antioxidant lignan accumulated in large amounts in the seedcoat of flax is here presented as an effective protectant of both bulk oil and o/w emulsion against secondary oxidation products, which makes it a potential alternative preservative for oily products in foods and cosmetics.