Flash extraction: An ultra-rapid technique for acquiring bioactive compounds from plant materials

Abstract Background The bioactive compounds contained in plants materials range from primary metabolites (e.g., polysaccharides, oils, proteins) to secondary metabolites (e.g., phenols, alkaloids, terpenoids, pigments) have been widely used in the fields of food and pharmacy, while extraction operation plays a key role for comprehensive usage of them. Recently, an ultra-rapid extraction called flash extraction (FE) has triggered great interest and is employed frequently to extract bioactive ingredients from various plant materials. Scope and approach This review offers an overview of FE. The structure of flash extractor is demonstrated and mechanisms that contribute to its high efficiency are reasonably illustrated. Several factors that significantly affect the extraction results such as solvent, rotation speed, treated time, and solid-liquid ratio are fully analyzed. Recent applications on the extraction of various phytochemicals and hybrid extraction processes that include FE are listed and discussed as well. Furthermore, an overall evaluation and future research directions are raised at the end. Key findings and conclusions The FE have some advantages over conventional extraction or even some emerging techniques, which make it a promising extraction technique to gain compounds efficiently with shorter extraction time, less solvent and energy consumption, compact equipment as well as safe and reliable operation. This technology deserves further technical and theoretical investigation.