Ample amounts of by-products are generated from the oil industry. Among them, sunflower oilcakes have the potential to be used for human consumption, thus achieving the concept of sustainability and circular economy. Sunflower oil contains principally oleic (19.81%) and linoleic (64.35%) acids, which cannot be synthetized by humans and need to be assimilated through a diet. Sunflower seeds are very nutritive (33.85% proteins and 65.42% lipids and 18 mineral elements). Due to the rich content of lipids, they are principally used as a source of vegetable oil. Compared to seeds, sunflower oilcakes are richer in fibers (31.88% and 12.64% for samples in form of pellets and cake, respectively) and proteins (20.15% and 21.60%), with a balanced amino acids profile. The remaining oil (15.77% and 14.16%) is abundant in unsaturated fatty acids (95.59% and 92.12%). The comparison between the three products showed the presence of valuable components that makes them suitable for healthy diets with an adequate intake of nutrients and other bioactive compounds with benefic effects.
1. Introduction
Large amounts of biodegradable waste and residues are produced and discarded every year from the food industry. These residues have high biochemical and chemical oxygen demand. For this reason, untreated waste harms the microflora
[1]. Food waste with a high fat content is susceptive to oxidation and thus harmful for microflora due to continuous enzymatic activity, which accelerates spoilage and limits technological possibilities of disposal. Environmental protection must be the first priority of international politics
[2]. Nowadays, due to the rapid expansion of the human population and current environmental issues (over-exploitation of resources, degradation of environment), it is necessary for a transition to the circular economy and the development of new strategies to minimize food waste during the supply chain
[3,4][3][4]. Moreover, problems related to cost disposal and the use of by-products have become an increasing challenge
[5]. Conventional methods for waste disposal and valorization are incineration, aerobic fermentation, composting, fertilizer and feedstuff
[6]. Alternative solutions consist in extracting the maximum value from waste, hence the bioactive compound and re-circulating them in the process, making value-added products and thus creating the concept of “waste = food”
[7,8][7][8].
Oilseeds are mostly used as a source of vegetable oils. After the extraction process, large amounts of residues and by-products are available. The use of these permits the achievement of effective waste utilization and the successful realization of the circular economy concept
[9]. Possible valorization methods of the oilcakes involve their use in animal diets as feeds, compost, a substrate in the production of enzymes, antibiotics and biosurfactants and in the recovery of bioactive compounds for further use in the production of new value-added products
[6,10][6][10].
Sunflower is a plant from the
Asteraceae family,
Helianthus genus and more than seventy species are known worldwide. The origin of the name derived from the aspect of the plant which resembled a sun and the fact that it rotates after the sun’s rays
[11,12][11][12]. Globally, sunflower seeds are ranked as one of the most produced oilseeds crops alongside rapeseed, soybean and cottonseed
[13]. Their composition and nutritive values depend on numerous factors, namely genotype, soil type, agricultural practices, climatic and processing conditions
[14]. Two types of sunflower seeds are known, namely the oil-producing seed and the ones used for confectionary purposes. The first is black with a thin hull (lignin and cellulolytic materials) that adheres to the kernel and represents 20% of the total weight. Originally, the seeds contained 25% oil but by modern plant breeding methods
[15,16][15][16] (induced mutation, hybridization, molecular breeding) new sunflower hybrids, in which the oil content was increased to 40%
[11,17,18][11][17][18], were created. The seeds are a source of dietary fibers, unsaturated fatty acids (more linoleic than oleic), antioxidants, flavonoids (quercetin, luteolin, apigenin and kaempferol) amino acids, proteins (up to 20%), vitamins (E, B, folate and niacin) and minerals (principally calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, selenium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and zinc)
[19,20][19][20]. The amino acids profile includes glutamic, aspartic acids, arginine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, leucine, methionine and cysteine. The content in fatty acids varies up to 31%, being higher than the other oilseed such as safflower, peanut, soybean, sesame and flaxseed
[21].
The oilseeds are mostly used as a source of vegetable oil with unique physicochemical properties
[22]. The traditional extraction techniques involve the use of a mechanic press (hot or cold pressing) or solvents
[23,24][23][24]. Sunflower oil, due to its easy accessibility and numerous health benefits (maintenance of low cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels in the human body, antioxidant, anticancer, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, skin protective and analgesic), is widely preferred in Europe, Mexico and several countries of South America. After extraction, it remains liquid at room temperature and has a shelf-life of over one year at 10 °C and in darkness
[11,25][11][25]. The major components are linoleic (59–65%) and oleic acids (30–70%). These represent 48–78% of the total fatty acids profile. There is also a small percentage of palmitic and stearic acids (15% for both fatty acids) present
[26,27][26][27]. Sunflower oil is also rich in vitamins (important role in the good functioning of the skin, nerves and digestive system), minerals (role in the enzymatic and metabolic processes) and excellent phytochemical such as carotenoids, tocopherols, phenols and tocotrienols with antioxidant activity. The variation of the composition depends on the plant’s species and the extraction methods employed
[28,29][28][29].
Oilcakes are the principal by-products obtained after the extraction of oil from the seeds. Then they are air-dried to remove the water before storage. Sometimes they are molded into two forms, namely flour (ground material) and pellet. The term is synonymous with press-cake, meal and oil meal. In terms of appearance, sunflower meal has the taste and the smell characteristic of the initial raw material without musty, mold, rancid and foreign smells. The color changes from black to gray
[30].
Generally, the meal is used in animal diet as feeds because it is an excellent source of protein and thus produces an increase in biomass
[31,32,33][31][32][33]. It can be also used for human consumption. The essential amino acids present in sunflower press-cakes are cysteine, methionine, leucine, valine, isoleucine, tryptophan, alanine and phenylalanine
[25]. Regarding the minerals and vitamins, phosphorus, thiamine, nicotinic, pantothenic acids and riboflavin are predominant
[26]. The dehulled process reduces the fiber content and increases the protein content
[34]. The difference in chemical composition varies depending on variety, growing condition, dehulling and extraction method
[35].
The physical characteristics are extremely important in the seeds production chain for designing various agricultural machines and equipment for operations such as planting, harvesting, cleaning, quality assessment, classification, dehulling, milling, packaging, storing and oil extraction
[36]. Physical characteristics can be grouped into four categories, namely dimensional, gravimetric, compressive and frictional (angle of response and static friction)
[37,38][37][38]. Length, width, thickness, area, volume, sphericity, equivalent diameter and projected area are dimensional proprieties and offer information about the shape. Instead, mass, bulk density, true density and porosity are gravimetric properties
[39]. The size, shape and density influence aerodynamic proprieties, which are crucial in designing a harvester
[40]. Moreover, hulling efficiency is affected by the hull structure, seed size and density. Sphericity, static friction and angle of response play a key role in designing storage facilities, while porosity in designing extraction machinery
[41]. When evaluating quality, consumers choose their preference based on texture, flavor and appearance. In order to reduce damaged and defective seeds, a classifier that complies with the quality indicators found should be realized
[42,43][42][43].
2. Chemical Composition of the Seeds, Kernels and Hulls
Sunflower seeds consist of kernels and seed coats or hulls. Sunflower hulls represent 21–30% of the seed weight and generally are considered a waste by-product
[44]. From the hulls can be recovered valuable phenolic compound and cellulose fibers for the production of green, renewable, biodegradable and edible food packaging material, thus reducing the global plastic production
[45]. Another alternative to dispose of them is by transforming the biomass (by pyrolysis, gasification and fermentation) obtaining bio-oils rich in furfural content (a valuable bio-renewable chemical that can be used in the production of biofuels and biochemicals)
[46] In our study, the proportion of hulls calculated for the sunflower seeds fell into the range from 13.67% up to 43.47%. Values depend on variety, environmental conditions, seed size and oil content
[47]. The lower values can be the result of the continuous effort to increase the seed’s oil content
[40]. The hulls contain a low percentage of proteins (7.82%), lipids (8.81%) and ash (2.45%) according to
Table 1. Similar values were found by other authors
[40[40][46][48],
46,48], values ranged within 3.48–12.40% for moisture, 2.3–9.45% for oil, 5.36–7.36% for protein and 2.1–4.11% for ash.
Table 1. Chemical composition of the whole seeds, kernels and hulls.
Sample |
Moisture, % |
Ash, % |
Proteins, % |
Lipids, % |
Seed |
6.16 ± 0.04 b |
2.73 ± 0.04 b |
33.85 ± 0.88 b |
65.42 ± 0.4 a |
Kernel |
4.60 ± 0.03 c |
3.31 ± 0.11 a |
23.73 ± 1.31 a |
32.50 ± 2.21 b |
Hull |
7.88 ± 0.09 a |
2.45 ± 0.11 c |
7.82 ± 0.22 c |
8.81 ± 0.12 c |