Evaluation of different methods to determine monosaccharides in biomass

Abstract

Sulfuric acid, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and acid methanolysis methods for hydrolysis were evaluated and compared using standard monosaccharides and standard oligosaccharides. As a result, sulfuric acid hydrolysis was found to be suitable to determine crystalline cellulosic and amorphous xylanic saccharides. TFA method, however, could not achieve complete hydrolysis of cellooligosaccharides and xylooligosaccharides, while acid methanolysis was considered appropriate to determine monosaccharides in amorphous hemicellulose. Based on these lines of evidence, a combination of sulfuric acid hydrolysis and acid methanolysis methods was concluded to be appropriate to get accurate monosaccharides determination in biomass species, and the application of this combined method to Japanese beech, bamboo and rice husk samples presented reasonable results. © Springer 2011.