REVIEW article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Green and Sustainable Chemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicNew Trends in Green Chemistry: Sustainable and Alternative Strategies for the Extractions of High Value Compounds from Agri-Food Matrices and ResiduesView all 4 articles
Reviewing on extraction, isolation, characterization of bioactive compounds obtained from agri-food waste and their potential for industrial application
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of chemistry and Chemical Engineering, P.O. Box 280 Zomba, Malawi, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi, Malawi
- 2University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi
- 3Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Lilongwe, Malawi
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The increased global food demand has resulted into extensive agricultural activities to offset the demand. The agri-activities generates large volumes of agri-food wastes (AFW) which creates disposal challenges and environmental pollution concerns. However, agri-wastes possess essential bioactive compounds with industrial applications. The primary focus of the study is to discuss techniques used in extraction, isolation, purification and characterisation of bioactive compounds found in AFW and their potential industrial applications. Traditional and emerging extraction processes; solid-liquid phase, liquid-liquid phase, distillation, crystallisation, thin layer chromatography and gel filtration chromatography are used for purification and isolation of bioactive compounds. FT-IR, NMR, UV-Vis and GC-MS analytical techniques are usually used in characterisation of bioactive compounds. AFW are reported to contain high levels of bioactive compounds with excellent antioxidants properties and biological activities that are ideal for cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and nutraceutical industries. However, the scalability of the use of bioactive compounds from AFW in various industries face challenges such as the use of large volumes of solvents and reagents in the extraction process that are a threat to human health and cause environmental pollution. The occurrence of phytochemical compounds with different properties and characteristics presents difficulty during extraction and purification processes. It is suggested that the use of pretreatment methods, innovative biological techniques and building closed-up systems that aim to repurpose the AFW into new products can promote their scalability and reduce environmental effects.
Keywords: afw, extraction, bioactive compounds, purification, Characterisation
Received: 20 Jul 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Njewa, Monjerezi, Kabanga, Kumwenda and Sumani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Joel Brian Njewa, njewajoel@gmail.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.