Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Simplified Method for the Measurement of Insoluble Solids in Pretreated Biomass Slurries

  • Published:
Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The biochemical conversion of cellulosic biomass to liquid transportation fuels includes the breakdown of biomass into its soluble, fermentable components. Pretreatment, the initial step in the conversion process, results in heterogeneous slurry comprised of both soluble and insoluble biomass components. For the purpose of tracking the progress of the conversion process, it is important to be able to accurately measure the fraction of insoluble biomass solids in the slurry. The current standard method involves separating the solids from the free liquor and then repeatedly washing the solids to remove the soluble fraction, a laborious and tedious process susceptible to operator variations. In this paper, we propose an alternative method for calculating the fraction of insoluble solids which does not require a washing step. The proposed method involves measuring the dry matter content of the whole slurry as well as the dry matter content in the isolated liquor fraction. We compared the two methods using three different pretreated biomass slurry samples and two oven-drying techniques for determining dry matter content, an important measurement for both methods. We also evaluated a large set of fraction insoluble solids data collected from previously analyzed pretreated samples. The proposed new method provided statistically equivalent results to the standard washing method when an infrared balance was used for determining dry matter content in the controlled measurement experiment. Similarly, in the large historical data set, there was no statistical difference shown between the wash and no-wash methods. The new method is offered as an alternative method for determining the fraction of insoluble solids.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Aden, A., Ruth, M., Ibsen, K., Jechura, J., Neeves, K., Sheehan, J., et al. (2002). Lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol process design and economics utilizing co-current dilute acid prehydrolysis and enzymatic hydrolysis for corn stover. Golden: DOE Publication, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Mcmillan, J. D. (1994). In: Enzymatic conversion of biomass for fuels production, 566, 292–324.

  3. Mosier, N., Wyman, C., Dale, B., et al. (2005). Bioresource Technology, 96, 673–686.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Kristensen, J. B., Felby, C., & Jørgensen, H. (2009). Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 156, 557–562.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sluiter, A., Hyman, D., Payne, C., & Wolfe, J. (2008). Determination of insoluble solids in pretreated biomass material, NREL/TP-510–42627. Golden: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Overend, R. P., & Chornet, E. (1987). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences., 321, 523–536.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Sluiter, A., Hames, B. Hyman,, D., Payne, C., Ruiz, R., Scarlata, C. et al. (2008). Determination of total solids in biomass and total dissolved solids in liquid process samples, NREL/TP-510-42621 ed., National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the US Department of Energy through the Office of the Biomass Program. We would like to thank our NREL colleagues David Templeton, Ed Wolfrum, and Chris Scarlata for helpful discussions regarding analysis of the data.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Quang A. Nguyen

    Present address: Abengoa Bioenergy New Technologies, 16150 Main Circle Drive, Suite 300, Chesterfield, MO, 63017, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

    Noah D. Weiss, Jonathan J. Stickel, Jeffrey L. Wolfe & Quang A. Nguyen

Authors
  1. Noah D. Weiss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan J. Stickel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jeffrey L. Wolfe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Quang A. Nguyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jonathan J. Stickel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weiss, N.D., Stickel, J.J., Wolfe, J.L. et al. A Simplified Method for the Measurement of Insoluble Solids in Pretreated Biomass Slurries. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 162, 975–987 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8806-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-009-8806-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation