For these reasons (to reduce the usage of solvents),
many innovations can be found in analytical processes that
can be applied to food preparation for extraction. This has
resulted in the recognition that LE can now be replaced
with faster and less expensive techniques. One of these
techniques is extraction in a Soxhlet apparatus. Extraction
in this equipment is a very common separation technique in
food analysis because no filtration is necessary, the extraction
temperature is higher than room temperature and the
sample is repeatedly brought into contact with fresh solvent.
The disadvantages of this technique are that it still
requires large amounts of solvent, the solvent must be
evaporated to concentrate analytes before determination
and the process consist of a single sample run that takes
many hours to complete.