ST1-01: Biomass compositional analysis of feedstock materials

Lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks can be used for conversion into transportation fuels and the summative compositional analysis of feedstocks is an important piece in the analysis of different biofuels processes. Biomass analysis supports all facets of the biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to biofuels. Biomass compositional analysis is a core competency in the biofuels program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. We will briefly describe the two-stage sulfuric acid hydrolysis to fractionate biomass for gravimetric and instrumental analyses. We will also describe work from an internal round robin experiment, where a homogenized corn stover sample was analyzed 154 times by 6 analysts in 2 NREL laboratories. This experiment has helped us understand the uncertainty of the feedstock methods. We will also describe an interlaboratory study to recharacterize the four NIST biomass reference materials. These reference materials with recharacterized values can be used to compare compositional data over time, between analysts or between laboratories.