ABSTRACT
A marine habitat including microalgae and macroalgae is considered as a rich and underexploited source of bioactive compounds. This chapter discusses different techniques used to efficiently extract bioactive compounds present in microalgae. Due to the huge biodiversity of algae, discussion is limited and we have tried to give an overview of technologies being used to extract valuable compounds from algae, their use in food and therapeutic applications and their market applications for better development in the future. Due to the low yield of bioactive compounds with less selectivity achieved by conventional methods, novel techniques have been developed for the extraction of platform molecules such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, lipids, carotenoids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and many more from algal biomass. New extraction techniques which have been successfully used to extract biologically active compounds are supercritical fluid extraction, pressurized fluid extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction and enzyme-assisted extractions, which are also used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.
