Uses for Sunflower Seed Hulls

Sunflower Hull Wood

• Distributed by the biowood manufacturer Environ Biocomposites of Mankato, Minnesota, Dakota Burl is a composite wood made with sunflower seed hulls supplied by local farmers. It is currently most often used in park buildings, states the USDA Biopreferred Program, where it is noticed due to the seeds' black lines that are embedded in the wood. In addition to its high price of around $120 for a 3/4-inch-thick sheet, sunflower seed hull wood is not suitable for use in kitchens or bathrooms due to its poor resistance to moisture, which may cause the wood to ripple.

Natural Absorbent

• Sunflower seed hulls are proving to be an environmentally friendly material to absorb oil spills in the water and on land. Sunsorb Absorbents Ltd., of Cape Town, South Africa, has developed a product that is non-toxic and contains no substances that will have to decompose over time, and hopes to market the product overseas. Called Sunsorb, the material completely absorbs any contaminants, rather than merely attracting them to its surface, making landfill disposal safe and minimizing soil contamination, states the National Sunflower Association.

Organic Growth Medium

• The structure of sunflower seed hulls makes it an ideal medium in which to grow shiitaki mushrooms, with the highest experimental growth rates being noted in a growing substrate composed of hulls and wheat bran, hulls and poplar sawdust, and a combination of the three. Growth rates were also good using sunflower hulls alone. Productivity was the same using sunflower hulls alone or an 8:2 ratio of hulls to wheat bran, proving that the hulls alone are capable of producing acceptable growth results, states the Mushroom Growers' Handbook.