Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of agricultural and food processing wastes and byproducts.

The agricultural processing industry generates a large variety of by-products and wastes ranging from manure to packing residuals. Researchers are working to develop new technologies and new uses for these materials in order to reduce environmental costs of the agricultural processing industry. New processes are developed to recover components producing value added products, such as novel foods, food ingredients, bioactive molecules for cosmetic or pharmaceutical industry. Supercritical carbon dioxide has been tested for the extraction of lipids and lipophilic components, where this technology has advantages over conventional solvents. For example, high extraction rates are achieved at lower temperatures, preserving many of the thermolabile extracted components. In this chapter, the composition of byproducts and wastes, and extraction of useful components is discussed.