Compositional analysis of lignocellulosic biomass: conventional methodologies and future outlook

Abstract

The composition and structural properties of lignocellulosic biomass have significant effects on its downstream conversion to fuels, biomaterials, and building-block chemicals. Specifically, the recalcitrance to modification and compositional variability of lignocellulose make it challenging to optimize and control the conditions under which the conversion takes place. Various characterization protocols have been developed over the past 150 years to elucidate the structural properties and compositional patterns that affect the processing of lignocellulose. Early characterization techniques were developed to estimate the relative digestibility and nutritional value of plant material after ingestion by ruminants and humans alike (e.g. dietary fiber). Over the years, these empirical techniques have evolved into statistical approaches that give a broader and more informative analysis of lignocellulose for conversion processes, to the point where an entire compositional and structural analysis of lignocellulosic biomass can be completed in minutes, rather than weeks. The use of modern spectroscopy and chemometric techniques has shown promise as a rapid and cost effective alternative to traditional empirical techniques. This review serves as an overview of the compositional analysis techniques that have been developed for lignocellulosic biomass in an effort to highlight the motivation and migration towards rapid, accurate, and cost-effective data-driven chemometric methods. These rapid analysis techniques can potentially be used to optimize future biorefinery unit operations, where large quantities of lignocellulose are continually processed into products of high value.

Lignocellulosic Biomass: Understanding Recalcitrance and Predicting Hydrolysis

“…Several studies have developed high throughput methodologies to characterize the composition and the structure of large sets of LB samples using wet chemistry and spectroscopy (Studer et al, 2010;Krasznai et al, 2018). These methods have the advantages of being fast and automatic with a very low sample mass and minimal sample preparation (Decker et al, 2018).…”

Efecto del pretratamiento con ácido sulfúrico diluido sobre la hidrólisis enzimática del Panicum maximum

“…La caracterización fisicoquímica de la biomasa se realizó empleando las técnicas del National Renewable Energy Laboratory -NREL, analizando humedad, contenido de glucosa, xilosa, lignina ácida soluble e insoluble y ceniza [22].…”

Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Lignin Isolated by Hybrid Organosolv—Steam Explosion Pretreatment of Hardwood and Softwood Biomass for the Production of Phenolics and Aromatics

“…Lignocellulosic biomass is nowadays considered to be an important renewable source for the production of fuels, energy, chemicals, polymers, and other products, with the (bio)catalytic processes playing a major role [1][2][3][4]. Lignocellulose comprises of two polysaccharides, cellulose (30-50 wt.%) and hemicellulose (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) wt.%), and an amorphous phenolic polymer, lignin (10-30 wt.%) [3,[5][6][7].…”

“…Derived from ZSM-5 (11.5) by desilication;2 Derived from ZSM-5 (40) by desilication;3 BET surface area from N 2 sorption measurements at −196 • C using the multi-point BET method; 4 t-plot method;5 Difference of the BET area minus the micropore area;6 Attributed mainly to macropores and external surface area;7 BJH analysis using adsorption data; 8 ICP-AES chemical analysis data;9 Determination of the amount of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) combined with in situ absorption of pyridine.…”