Investigation of Silphium perfoliatum as Feedstock for a Liquid Hot Water–Based Biorefinery Process Towards 2,3-Butanediol

Towards high-biomass yielding bioenergy crop Silphium perfoliatum L.: phenotypic and genotypic evaluation of five cultivated populations

“…The wood has to be converted into xylochemicals with a subsequent catalysis (Liao et al 2020). S. perfoliatum, can be used indirectly after an intensive pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and organosolv or fermentation in a biorefinery to produce bio-based platform chemicals (Lunze et al 2021), or the biomass can be used directly after a less intensive pretreatment for paper production (Chapter 3) or building materials (Chapter 4).…”

“…The optical and gravimetric analysis revealed similar pore sizes and weight between expanded polystyrene and the parenchyma, putting the focus on the use of S. perfoliatum as an insulation material. When harvested in the summer, Silphium can be used as biorefinery feedstock (Lunze et al 2021), biogas substrate (Siwek et al 2019;Cossel et al 2020) or cattle feed (Neumerkel and Märtin 1982).…”

“…Two-step acid hydrolysis for chemical characterization of the raw material and pulp were performed in triplicates, according to NREL TP-510-42618. This method was initially developed for raw woody materials (Sluiter et al 2011), and has been used for pulp/fibre analysis before (Gschwend et al 2016;Ilanidis et al 2021;Lunze et al 2021). The acid insoluble residue (AIR), consisting mainly of lignin, was determined gravimetrically with the analytical balance (XA105 Dual Range, Mettler Toledo).…”

“…When compared to silage maize cup plant has a similar harvest and methane yield, and is used as forage. Next to its methane yield, cup plant produces ingredients which could be interesting for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries (Lunze et al 2021). Furthermore, the seeds could potentially be used for oil production, much like what has been investigated for Silphium integrifolium Michx.…”

“…In the long-term, cup plant and Virginia mallow could become a profound alternative to common energy and fibre plants (Wever et al 2020). They are high yielding perennials with up to 25 t dm ha -1 a -1 , a superior nutrient use efficiency due to their extensive root system (Schoo et al 2017;Franzaring et al 2015), and cup plant offers a wide range of useful chemical substances for the pharmaceutical or agrochemical industry (Lunze et al 2021). Furthermore, they provide environmental benefits like phytoremediation, pollination, soil health regulation, CO2 sequestration, habitat connectivity, as well as an increase in biodiversity and minimization of soil erosion (Cumplido-Marin et al 2020;.…”