Future Prospects - Genetics, Genomics and Breeding of Crop Plants - page 326

Many areas of the US are favorable for sunflower production, but
economics and point-of-delivery availability will continue to determine
where sunflower is grown. Zheljazkov et al. (2008) have demonstrated that
most areas of Mississippi are potential growing areas for producing and
extracting sunflower oil for local biodiesel production. Other states in the
southeastern US have explored the possibility of double cropping sunflower
with other crops, for example wheat in Kentucky and cotton in Georgia,
with a view to selling the seed for oil processing or for using the oil as a
biodiesel fuel. Thus, several new regions of sunflower production in the US
are possible, and expansion into those areas will be driven by the market
and the related need for new, renewable energy sources.
Similar opportunities for sunflower expansion into new areas
undoubtedly exist in many countries. We can expect that many of the new
areas of production will be marginally fertile lands in hot, arid climates,
where sunflower can outcompete many other crops to produce a profitable
yield.
10.5 New uses
10.5.1 Biofuels and Lubricants
Sunflower has been used as a source for biofuel by two quite different systems.
It is possible to use whole sunflower plants for biomass production and
conversion in biogas reactors to methane gas. Hahn et al. (2006) tested
different sunflower types, and estimated that 6,000 m 3 ha -1 of methane gas is
a realistic breeding goal for biogas production from sunflower. In Germany,
district biogas reactors have been built to convert biomass to methane as an
energy source. Whether high biomass sunflowers can be grown economically
and can compete with other high biomass sources for commercial methane
production will be determined by market economics.
Sunflower oil, along with most other vegetable oils, has been recognized
as an excellent biodiesel fuel for several decades. Early utilization of vegetable
oils for biodiesel fuel was with unmodified oil. Vegetable oils are now
transesterified to release the fatty acids as methyl or ethyl esters for use as
biodiesel fuels. High-oleic sunflower oil, whether directly or as feedstock
for synthetic esters, has great potential both as a biodiesel fuel and as a
lubricant due to its superior wear-reducing properties. In the EU, where
regulatory rules favor environmentally friendly applications of industrial
oils, natural oils like sunflower are in a good position to compete with
petroleum-based products when overall costs are compared (Vannozzi
2006). Reduced consumption, high quality, low maintenance, and
biodegradability decrease the long-term costs associated with disposal of
lubricants to the environment.