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Robust Quantitative Analytic for Carbohydrate Measurement in Sludge

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Abstract

In this article a significant improvement for the chemical analytic is presented to overcome the gap of a fast and accurate carbohydrate measurement during anaerobic digestion. The new method is an easily manageable and accurate carbohydrate analysis for solutions which are difficult to analyse, such as mixtures of substrate with anaerobic sludge. The method can be used for soluble carbohydrate measurements for particles ø \(\le \text {0.45}\,\upmu \text {m}\). Additionally, solutions with insoluble carbohydrates or larger particles were successfully hydrolysed and then measured. Hydrolysing a viscose model kitchen waste solution with a carbohydrate content in the range between 5.3 and 42.5 gL\(^{-1}\) led to complete recovery with a relative derivation of less than ± 4%. This new method is accurate, inexpensive and safe. The advantages and features are presented and offers the possibility of carbohydrate degradation monitoring during anaerobic digestion.

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Data Availability

Enquiries about data availability should be directed to the authors.

Notes

  1. In this work the sulphuric acid concentration is presented as relative acid concentration with the unit (%) v/v. This means volume sulphuric acid in volume total solution.

Abbreviations

AS:

Anaerobic sludge

CV:

Coefficient of variation

GE:

Glucose equivalent

LOD:

Limit of detection

MKW:

Model kitchen waste

PTFE:

Polytetrafluoroethylene

\(R^2\) :

Determination coefficient

SD:

Standard deviation

t :

Student’s t test

TS:

Total solids

VS:

Volatile solids

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks goes to Mrs. Buch for her constructive input and helpful discussions. For the support in laboratory the author thanks Mr. Schlienz. Furthermore, the author wishes to thank syndicate Minett-Kompost for supporting this work. The author acknowledges the use of resources of University of Luxembourg.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Biofactory Competence Center, Passage du Cardinal 13b, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    First Simon Weber

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Weber, F.S. Robust Quantitative Analytic for Carbohydrate Measurement in Sludge. Waste Biomass Valor 14, 915–925 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-022-01902-x

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