## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Preparation and Chemical Characterization of SEWS  
The SEWS was obtained as waste from the main process of sunflower meal protein isolation [13] and was not optimized for the content of any of the analyzed compounds. Its potential as a value-added product was evaluated to maximize the use of the sunflowermeal as a byproduct and enhance the sustainability of vegetable oil production for both food and technical purposes [31; 32]. Proximate analyzes revealed that more than 50% of the SEWS consisted of carbohydrates (62.14%, Table 1). This result is justified by the polar nature of ethanol used for the preparation of the product. By using ethanol as a solvent, [PERSON] et al. [33] extracted over 75% of the initial sugar content of sunflower collets. Low molecular weight carbohydrates, simple sugars, di- and oligosaccharides, are well soluble in aqueous ethanol solutions [34] and their presence in the SEWS was expected. Indeed, GC-MS analyzes of the polar compounds in SEWS demonstrated a prevalence of sucrose having the highest total ion current (TIC) in this group (14.01%, Table 2). High TICs, 6.66%, 5.86%, and 5.41%, were observed for galactose, fructose, and glucose, respectively (Table 2). The presence of 3.18% glucose in the SEWS was estimated by a highly specific enzymatic method (Table 1). A similar carbohydrate profile of ethanolic extract from sunflower collets was reported by [PERSON] et al. [33]. Interestingly, in the current study, melibiose was the compound having the second-highest TIC (9.93%) after sucrose (Table 2). Although this saccharide is not typical for sunflower meal, its appearance in the SEWS may be a result of the degradation of raffinose, stachyose, or verbascose during seed processing [35]. Simple sugars and disaccharides are readily used as carbon and energy sources for microbial growth [36; 37; 38]. While most wild-type microorganisms consume glucose preferentially to other carbohydrates, the progress of DNA recombinant technology allowed the development of strains capable of co-utilization of biomass-derived mixed sugars [39; 40]. Therefore, consisting of 62.14% carbohydrates (Table 1), the SWES might be potentially useful as a carbon source for microbial growth in biotechnology. Sugar alcohols are a group of polar compounds in the SEWS having relatively high TICs (%) (Table 2). Among them, glucitol, glycerol, arabitol, and xylitol exhibited 5.34%, 4.77%, 4.11%, and 3.24% TIC, respectively (Table 2). Recently, sugar alcohols gained increasing interest due to their suitability to replace sugar in antidiabetic treatment and healthy lifestyle living [41]. They are constituents of sugar-free food products, including ice cream, spreads, and bakery goods [42]. The polyols have relatively high sweetness compared to sucrose but do not enhance plasma glucose due to specifics in their degradation and subsequent assimilation [43]. They are also used as softeners and crystallization inhibitors in the food industry [44] or valuable compounds in oral and dental care products [45]. Sunflower meal, obtained after solvent extraction, contains approximately 3% residual oil [6]. The four-fold treatment of the sunflower meal, used in the current study, resulted in the enhancement of the lipid content in SEWS to 7.73% (Table 1). It is most probably due to the higher polarity of the ethanol compared to hexane, leading to higher extraction efficiency [46]. [PERSON] et al. [33] and [PERSON] et al. [47] demonstrated the feasibility of using ethanol as an alternative solvent to hexane in the oil extraction from sunflower collets, regardless of the low selectivity of the reagent and the relatively high amount of non-lipid compounds in the extracted material. Recently, there has been an escalating interest in ethanol as a \"green\" extracting agent of vegetable oil due to its low toxicity and handling risks [33; 46; 47]. GC-MS analyzes demonstrated a prevalence of linoleic (12.10% TIC) and palmitic acids (6.18% TIC) followed by arachidonic (4.86% TIC) and stearic (4.30% TIC) acids