Poster Presentation 1A-15

Improved Rapid HPLC Method of Biomass Carbohydrate Analysis

F.A. Agblevor*, A. Murden and B. Hames^¶

Department of Biological Systems Engineering

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

203 Seitz Hall

Blacksburg, VA 24061-0303

Phone:  (540)231-2578

Fax:  (540)231-3199

Email: Fagblevo@vt.edu

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Golden, Colorado

The conversion of biomass feedstocks to ethanol and other biobased products requires very good analytical data to enable estimates of yields to be made. The analysis of the lignin component can be rapidly carried out using the Klason lignin method or spectroscopic methods. The quantitative analysis of the carbohydrate fraction has several problems associated with it including long preparation times for gas chromatographic analysis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis however is rapid, but sugar peak resolution is rather poor for most columns and therefore the quantification is not very accurate. We have developed an HPLC method which has excellent peak resolution for most sugars found in biomass feedstocks such as xylose, glucose, arabinose, galactose, mannose, fructose, and sucrose. All peaks in the chromatogram are baseline-resolved. The detection of the peaks is greatly improved if an evaporative light scattering detector (ESLD) is used. Sugar levels as low as 1 µg can be detected and quantified. Hydrolyzed biomass feedstocks do not require any further preparation other than pH adjustment. This method was used to analyze NIST standard biomass feedstocks and corn stover hydrolysates.