Tuesday, April 20, 2010
LL Conference Facility (Hilton Clearwater Beach)
The determination of chemical structures and composition in biomass is very important for the assessment and monitoring of biotechnological processes, aiming at the production of biofuels and chemicals. Lignocellulosic materials, such as sugar cane bagasse, contain polysaccharides and lignin, besides a few extractives and ash. The amount of these compounds in the raw material depends on its crop source. The methods of characterization used in this work were based on international papers and tailored to a very abundant residue in Brazil, sugar cane bagasse. The total carbohydrate (glucan, xylan and arabinan) content in the material was around 70% (m/m, dry basis), showing the potential application of this biomass to the biofuels industry. Lignin (acid soluble and insoluble) represented 20% (m/m) of this biomass and is associated to carbohydrates by covalent bonds. Hydroxycinnamic acids (p-coumaric and ferulic acids) link lignin and hemicellulose via ester and eter bonds and p-coumaric acid was predominant in this bagasse. Ash and extractives corresponded to around 6% (m/m) in bagasse.