Deeper insight into the morphological features of sunflower stalk as Biorefining criteria for sustainable production

Abstract

Effective utilization of fibrous materials plays a major role in techno-economic viability of the resources. Sunflower stalk (SS) as one of highest bio-fibrous waste was assessed respect to fiber features in biorefinery approach. The lumen diameter, wall thickness and fiber length were measured as (∼12 µm), (5.25 µm) and (1.58 mm), respectively. The wider lumen diameter makes its suitable for chemical treatments and purification. The applied Pulping conditions decreased the fiber length and wall thickness, with the least reduction by soda-anthraquinone. Derived indices involved rigidity and flexibility coefficients, aspect and Runkel ratios, solid and Luce’s shape factors were also calculated based on the measured values. The aspect ratio (77.5) put SS fibers as very good resources for lignocellulosic products and composites. The flexibility coefficient (57) belongs to the elastic category and was not altered by pulping. The Runkel ratio was lesser than 1 (>0.9) but decreased by the pulping, to some extent. The Luceʼs shape factor was nearly calculated 0.5, near to the bagasse and eucalyptus species. Solid factor (0.17) and rigidity coefficient (0.51) were considered to be good fiber resource. Totally due to the SS fiber characteristics, the agricultural waste suitability for value adding bio-based production could be reported.

Influence on the fermentation quality, microbial diversity, and metabolomics in the ensiling of sunflower stalks and alfalfa

“…However, with a large number of seeds provided, sunflower produces a large amount of sunflower straw. According to statistics, the global planted area of sunflowers were more than 26.5 million hectares in 2017, generating about 80-186 million tons of remaining straw (Mehdikhani et al, 2019). In China, sunflower is a widely planted oilseed crop, and its straw production is about 12 billion tons (Rocha et al, 2004).…”

Sustainably Processed Waste Wool Fiber-Reinforced Biocomposites for Agriculture and Packaging Applications

“…Considering the global need, it is clear that non-wood-based resources will be more important as a raw material for the paper and paperboard industry in the future than today. Previous studies have shown that various agricultural residues such as wheat straw [13], rice straw [14], sunflower stalks [15], sugarcane bagasse [16], oil palm empty fruit brunch [17], etc., and alternative raw materials consisting of tagasaste [18] bridal broom, phragmites [19], giant reed [20], prosopis [21], coniferous [22], leafy wood eucalyptus [23], pine [24], and textile waste [25,26] are considered to be alternative sources for producing pulp and paper sheets.…”