Biotechnology for Biofuels volume 11 , Article number: Cite this article. Metrics details. Lavender Lavandula angustifolia and lavandin a sterile hybrid of L. The solid residues from aromatic plant distillation such as lavender- and lavandin-distilled straws are generally considered as wastes, and consequently either left in the fields or burnt.
However, lavender- and lavandin-distilled straws are a potentially renewable plant biomass as they are cheap, non-food materials that can be used as raw feedstocks for green chemistry industry.
The objective of this work was to assess different pathways of valorization of these straws as bio-based platform chemicals and fungal enzymes of interest in biorefinery. Sugar and lignin composition analyses and saccharification potential of the straw fractions revealed that these industrial by-products could be suitable for second-generation bioethanol prospective. The solvent extraction processes, developed specifically for these straws, released terpene derivatives e.
Lavender and lavandin straws were also suitable inducers for the secretion of a wide panel of lignocellulose-acting enzymes cellulases, hemicellulases and oxido-reductases from the white-rot model fungus Pycnoporus cinnabarinus. Interestingly, high amounts of laccase and several lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases were identified in the lavender and lavandin straw secretomes using proteomics. The present study demonstrated that the distilled straws of lavender and lavandin are lignocellulosic-rich materials that can be used as raw feedstocks for producing high-added value compounds antioxidants, aroma and fungal oxidative enzymes, which represent opportunities to improve the decomposition of recalcitrant lignocellulose into biofuel.
Hence, the structure and the physico-chemical properties of these straws clearly open new perspectives for use in biotechnological processes involving especially filamentous fungi. These approaches represent sustainable strategies to foster the development of a local circular bioeconomy.
