Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The sunflower plant family for bioenergy, environmental remediation, nanotechnology, medicine, food and agriculture: a review

  • Review
  • Published:
Environmental Chemistry Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Energy security and pollution are becoming critical issues in the context of climate change and the circular economy, calling for sustainable resources. Asteraceae species, commonly referred as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, are among the largest flowering plants with 23,000 species belonging to 1600 genera, and are a major source of biomass. Here we review botanical characteristics and applications of Asteraceae for bioenergy, remediation, nanotechnology, medicine, food and agriculture. Sunflower is the most used to produce bio-oils with a yearly production of 47 million tons. Sunflower is also used for phytoremediation of heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, uranium, and chromium. Artichoke, chicory, purple coneflower, and wormwood display medicinal potential with 27–103 bioactive compounds. Artemisia, calendula, and sunflower oil are precursors for cosmetic and perfume production. Asteraceae species exhibited high efficiencies of 90−96% for removal of remazol red, and reactive blue dyes. Asteraceae species are used for fabrication of nanoparticles, biochar, activated carbon and biocomposites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Copyright 2019 Wiley-VCH

Fig. 3

Source: www.ceicdata.com | Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, United Kingdom

Fig. 4

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research is funded by Foundation for Science and Technology Development, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We would like to acknowledge Mina Rees Library, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York (CUNY) for granting access to databases, and Freepik company projects at www.freepik.com for many graphic resources reproduced in this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thuan Van Tran.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nguyen, D.T.C., Nguyen, T.T., Le, H.T.N. et al. The sunflower plant family for bioenergy, environmental remediation, nanotechnology, medicine, food and agriculture: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19, 3701–3726 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01266-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01266-z

Keywords

Navigation