# Recent Advances in the Development and Application of Green Extraction Techniques
###### Abstract  
Increased awareness towards environmental protection due to the recognized long-term effects of global industrialization and other anthropogenic actions, as well as imperatives posed to many industries to orient them towards sustainability and circular economy models, has imposed new trends and strategies in most technologies. In the exploitation of natural resources of both plant and animal origin, the extraction process is recognized as crucial, directly defining economic viability, sustainability, as well as compliance with strict requirements with respect to environmental impact and safety. More strict regulations with respect to environmental impact and raised awareness of the general population and consumers about the safety and origin of products established the necessity of adjusting existing technologies to new requirements. The implementation of green extraction processes, the replacement of conventional technologies, or translation to extraction processes involving cutting-edge technologies has become a challenge for industrial-scale processes. Modern extraction processes that are being developed not only provide safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives, but also successfully achieve improvements in efficiency and selectivity, providing reduced processing time and costs.  
It can be said that trends in the development of new extraction techniques are oriented towards one of two important fields--analytical chemistry and technology/industry. In the sphere of analytical chemistry, coupling of the extraction, as a sample preparation step, with the analytical step, ensures improvement in reliability, accuracy, reproducibility, and overall measurement uncertainty by significantly reducing the time of analysis, particularly relevant in high sample throughput. Thus, the trends in the field of instrumental analysis consider miniaturization and the development of microextraction techniques, or so-called solvent-free extraction, for hyphenation with modern analytical instruments of high sensitivity and selectivity but low capacities, such as chromatographic systems (liquid or gas) or capillary electrophoresis. Membrane extraction, microextraction (dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction), or'solventless' extraction (solid-phase microextraction) techniques are nowadays common in analytical practice, representing an integral part of commonly used analytical methods.  
Industrial applications, however, must consider scalability from successfully developed lab-scale extraction to the industrial scale. As a major challenge, safety, sustainability, technical feasibility, and financial aspects must be considered [1].  
Modern extraction techniques tend to increase extraction efficiency and selectivity, reduce processing time and costs, and assure the safety of the final extract by reducing solvent consumption and by replacing conventional solvents with greener and safer alternatives. Green extraction techniques thus imply the use of reduced quantities of conventional solvents, apply solvents with modified properties, or use the solvents relatively safe for the environment or of remarkably reduced toxicity and risks (GRAS--Generally Recognized as Safe). In addition to efficiently overcome the limiting steps of the extraction, such asstrong bonds with the matrix, low solubility, low diffusivity, slow heating, poor contact with the matrix, etc., modern green extraction techniques prioritize significantly reducing the environmental burden, producing safer extracts richer in target chemicals.  
Considering the above, the main goal of this Special Issue was to collect the latest research on the development and application of green extraction techniques.