Phenol extraction is a processing technology used to prepare phenols as raw materials, compounds or additives for industrial wood processing and for chemical industries.
Extraction can be performed using different solvents. There is a risk that polyphenol oxidase (PPO) degrades the phenolic content of the sample therefore there is a need to use PPO inhibitors like potassium dithionite (KSO) or to perform experiment using liquid nitrogen or to boil the sample for a few seconds (blanching) to inactivate the enzyme. Further fractionation of the extract can be achieved using solid phase extraction columns, and may lead to isolation of individual compounds.
The recovery of natural phenols from biomass residue is part of biorefining.