Valorization of horse chestnut burs to produce simultaneously valuable compounds under a green integrated biorefinery approach

A biorefinery scheme for the valorization of horse chestnut biowastes (a municipal solid waste) into added value bioactive compounds is proposed in this work. The bur fraction of horse chestnut was evaluated as a novel and cheap renewable feedstock to obtain valuable compounds suitable for their use in industrial applications. The integrated valorization scheme comprised an initial hydroethanolic extraction of antioxidant compounds (optimized through surface response methodology), the alkaline delignification of the exhausted solid to obtain a lignin-enriched fraction, and the enzymatic digestibility of the remaining cellulose fraction to produce fermentable sugars. In addition, the structural characterization of the extract by FT-IR and TGA was performed, and the analysis by UPLC-DAD-ESI-MS allowed the tentative identification of eleven antioxidant phenolic compounds. The application of this multiproduct valorization approach led to the production of 13 kg antioxidant extracted compounds, 33.2 kg lignin and 14.5 kg glucose per each 100 kg of horse chestnut burs, which demonstrates the great potential of this residue as a biorefinery substrate.