Computational Molecular Biology 2025, Vol.15, No.1, 53-64 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/cmb 62 is actually that the industry standards have not yet kept up. The activity of polysaccharides produced by the same process from different manufacturers can vary by several tens of percent. This needs to be standardized as soon as possible. 8 Challenges and Future Directions for Green Extraction Technologies 8.1 Bottlenecks in technology promotion When it comes to green extraction technology, enterprises have a love-hate relationship with it. Equipment investment is indeed a hurdle-a set of industrial-grade ultrasonic equipment often costs over a million yuan, and enzyme preparations are even more costly, which small factories simply cannot afford. Different Cordyceps varieties are particularly sensitive. For example, the extraction parameters of Cordyceps militaris and Cordyceps sinensis can differ by 20%, and just the process adjustment can drive the R&D team crazy. Last year, a company purchased imported equipment, only to find that it was particularly poorly compatible with local Cordyceps sinensis raw materials, and had to spend extra money to modify it. What's more troublesome is that there is not even a standard process in the industry at present. The effect of the same method produced in different factories is unstable (Mena-Garcia et al., 2019). However, the recently emerged technology service companies do offer process customization, helping enterprises save a lot of trial-and-error costs, but the service fees are still not cheap. Ultimately, for these new technologies to be popularized, it will have to wait for the localization of equipment and the implementation of industry standards. 8.2 Future research directions in green extraction What should be the next step for the extraction technology of Cordyceps polysaccharides? Nowadays, researchers are all considering a combination of green technologies-the mixed use of microwave, ultrasound and enzymatic methods. Experiments have long shown that after microwave pretreatment followed by ultrasonic-enzymatic method, the extraction efficiency can increase by another 15%, but equipment compatibility is a new challenge (Wen et al., 2020). Recently, it has become more fashionable to have AI act as an experimenter and predict the optimal process parameters through algorithms (Wang, 2024), which is said to save 60% of the debugging time (Hou et al., 2024). But to be honest, for these high-end technologies to be implemented, they still have to overcome the cost barrier. After all, enterprises are not willing to pay for the beautiful data in the laboratory. Although ultrasonic and enzymatic methods are environmentally friendly, when industrially scaled up, either the probe life is short or the recovery rate of enzyme preparations is low (Ahmed et al., 2024). Interestingly, some teams have attempted to use discarded agricultural raw materials as enzyme culture media, which not only reduces costs but is also environmentally friendly. However, the stability of enzyme activity is still a bit lacking. The breakthrough point in the next five years is likely to focus on how to make these technologies both maintain the green advantage and be accounted for by bosses (Yin et al., 2018). 8.3 Development of a sustainable industrial chain For the Cordyceps sinensis industry to truly achieve a green transformation, merely improving the extraction technology is far from enough. We need to focus on the entire production chain-can those used ethanol solvents be recycled? How to deal with the discarded mushroom residue? These problems are becoming increasingly urgent now (Li et al., 2017). Some manufacturers have attempted to establish a closed-loop circulation system to recycle and reuse 95% of the extracted solvents. Although the initial investment is large, it is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly in the long run (Wang et al., 2017). However, to achieve these, it is not enough to rely solely on enterprises. Research institutions need to provide technical support, and government departments should introduce supporting policies, such as offering tax incentives for green processes. Recently, industry associations have been formulating carbon footprint standards for Cordyceps production. This is quite important. After all, only when standards are in place can everyone know in which direction to strive. Ultimately, sustainable development is not a matter of a single link, but a revolution covering the entire chain from cultivation to extraction and then to waste disposal. Without any one of these links, it cannot be accomplished. Acknowledgments Thank you to the reviewers for their thorough and detailed reading of this manuscript and for providing valuable suggestions for improvement.
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