In Europe, pine forests are one of the most extended forests formations, making pine residues and by-products an important source of compounds with high industrial interest as well as for bioenergy production. Moreover, the valorization of lumber industry residues is desirable from a circular economy perspective. Different extraction methods and solvents have been used, resulting in extracts with different constituents and consequently with different bioactivities. Recently, emerging and green technologies as ultrasounds, microwaves, supercritical fluids, pressurized liquids, and electric fields have appeared as promising tools for bioactive compounds extraction in alignment with the Green Chemistry principles. Pine extracts have attracted the researchers’ attention because of the positive bioproperties, such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-neurodegenerative, antitumoral, cardioprotective, etc., and potential industrial applications as functional foods, food additives as preservatives, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Phenolic compounds are responsible for many of these bioactivities. However, there is not much information in the literature about the individual phenolic compounds of extracts from the pine species. The present review is about the reutilization of residues and by-products from the pine species, using ecofriendly technologies to obtain added-value bioactive compounds for industrial applications.

Seaweeds are a renewable natural source of valuable macro and micronutrients that have attracted the attention of the scientists in the last years. Their medicinal properties were already recognized in the ancient traditional Chinese medicine, but only recently there has been a considerable increase in the study of these organisms in attempts to demonstrate their health benefits. The extraction process and conditions to be used for the obtention of value-added compounds from seaweeds depends mainly on the desired final product. Thermochemical conversion of seaweeds, using high temperatures and solvents (including water), to obtain high-value products with more potential applications continues to be an industrial practice, frequently with adverse impact on the environment and products’ functionality. However more recently, alternative methods and approaches have been suggested, searching not only to improve the process performance, but also to be less harmful for the environment. A biorefinery approach display a valuable idea of solving economic and environmental drawbacks, enabling less residues production close to the much recommended zero waste system. The aim of this work is to report about the new developed methods of seaweeds extractions and the potential application of the components extracted.

Natural compounds from agro-food by-products have fostered interest in food industries. The aim of this study was to unravel potential uses for Pinus pinaster bark extracts (PBE). As functional features of this type of extracts are usually attributed to phenolic compounds, the extraction process was studied. Different PBEs were achieved, with high content in phenolic compounds, using different water/ethanol combinations as a solvent. These PBEs were chemically characterized, and their bioactivity and in vitro cell viability were evaluated. Extracts obtained with hydroethanolic solvents had higher content in phenolic and flavonoid compounds. All the PBEs presented high antioxidant, antibacterial and antihyperglycemic activities. Moreover, PBEs have low cytotoxicity and a selective activity against cancer cells as these were negatively affected. These features may allow the extracts to be used in food formulation and processing (as preservatives, antioxidants or bioactive ingredients), but they showed also potential for the pharmaceutical or nutraceutical sectors.