6-14: Lignocellulosic biomass analytical tools: carbohydrates and lignin

CCRC Analytical Services offers extensive characterization of Lignocellulosic Biomass using combination of chemical and instrumental analysis including glycosyl composition, per-O-methylation and glycosyl linkage analysis by GC-MS, lignin analysis by Pyrolysis MBMS, Pyrolysis GCMS, and hemicellulose analysis by enzymatic digestion, HPLC, mass spectrometry and NMR-spectroscopic techniques. The CCRC Analytical Services has successfully collaborated with the leading alternative energy research institution such as NREL to study plant biomass and effects of pretreatment procedures on plant cell wall structure. Biomass is a composite of cellulose (~44%), hemicelluloses (~30%) and lignin (~26%) linked together via hydrogen and covalent bonds. 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. Techniques available at CCRC include: - Composition and glycosyl sequence by derivatization and GC-MS - NMR-spectroscopy - Polysaccharide, oligosaccharide sequencing by NMR- and MS - Various HPLC techniques with variety of post-column detection methods - Fractionation and purification of oligo - and polysaccharides - Mass-spectrometric techniques: MALDI-TOF MS, LTQ-ESI MS - Lignin analysis by Pyrolysis MBMS and Pyrolysis GC-MS: total lignin content, identification of lignin monomers, S/G/H ratio, comparison of Py-MBMS and Py-GCMS - CCRC Analytical Services collaborates with academic teams and commercial research companies. This collaboration gives to researchers from various institutions access to the expertise and state-of-the-art techniques available at the CCRC.