Extraction of herbal biomolecules

Abstract The demand for medicinal plants and their products for medicinal and nonmedicinal uses has increased many folds since last 2–3 decades. The increased demand has put enormous pressure on the natural resources, and has made the world think and act for the sustainability of medicinal plants as well as the environment. Various approaches viz., good cultivation and collection practices for medicinal plants, plant tissue culturing, genetic modifications, etc., have been used for the sustainability of the medicinal plants in their natural habitat. Besides these methods, a lot of emphasis has been given on developing better, safer, and greener extraction technologies for medicinal plants and their biomolecules, as these indirectly help their sustainability by improving the overall yield of the extract, content of extracted phytoconstituents, and minimizing the waste. Traditional extraction methods like maceration, percolation, Soxhlet extraction, etc., required large amount of extraction time, solvents, and biomass to get the required amount of yield. Consequently, modern extraction technologies viz., supercritical fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, electrotechnologies (ohmic, pulsed electric field–assisted extraction), pressurized solvent extraction, etc., have been developed. These techniques are better and greener than conventional methods in terms of their solvent consumption, time of extraction, yield, etc. This chapter provides an overview of traditional and modern extraction techniques that are used for extraction of herbal biomolecules.