Book excerpt: Natural products are used by the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, and extraction technologies and potential applications for plant extracts are of interest to many industrial sectors. Extraction of natural products in an economic and environmentally friendly way is of high importance to all industries involved. The second edition of this book presents an updated, holistic, in-depth view of the more environmentally benign techniques available for the extraction of natural products, along with their newest applications and case studies. Conventional and emerging extraction techniques are discussed in detail. New topics include enzymes, pulsed electric energy, and on-line/in-line analysis. Written for academics and industrialists working in both natural product extraction and green chemistry, this new edition provides a valuable update on current trends in the field.