Biomass is a composite of cellulose (~44%), hemicelluloses (~30%) and lignin (~26%) linked together via hydrogen and covalent bonds. Wood and agricultural residues, and dedicated energy crops are the main forms of biomass feedstock. Although dedicated energy crops such as short-rotation woody crops and herbaceous crops (primarily tall grasses) seem to be the largest and most promising future resource of biomass (Lin and Tanaka, 2006), existing agricultural residues, such as corn stover, are an obvious source of biomass especially for the near term.
At the CCRC Analytical Services we have successfully collaborated with a leading alternative energy research institution such as NREL to study plant biomass structure and effects of various pretreatment procedures on plant cell wall structure.
Techniques available at CCRC include:
- Composition and glycosyl sequence by derivatization and GC-MS
- NMR-spectroscopy
- Polysaccharide and oligosaccharide sequencing by NMR- and MS
- Various HPLC methods
- Fractionation and purification of oligo- and polysaccharides
- Mass-spectroscopic techniques: MALDI-TOF/TOF MS, LTQ-ESI MS
CCRC Analytical Services also collaborates with academic teams and commercial research companies to investigate plant biomass and bacterial polysaccharides. This collaboration gives to researchers from various institutions access to the expertise and state-of-the-art techniques available at the CCRC.