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Title: Compositional Analysis of Water-Soluble Materials in Corn Stover

Journal Article · · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jf0700327· OSTI ID:941438

Corn stover is one of the leading feedstock candidates for commodity-scale biomass-to-ethanol processing. The composition of water-soluble materials in corn stover has been determined with greater than 90% mass closure in four of five representative samples. The mass percentage of water-soluble materials in tested stover samples varied from 14 to 27% on a dry weight basis. Over 30 previously unknown constituents of aqueous extracts were identified and quantified using a variety of chromatographic techniques. Monomeric sugars (primarily glucose and fructose) were found to be the predominant water-soluble components of corn stover, accounting for 30-46% of the dry weight of extractives (4-12% of the dry weight of feedstocks). Additional constituents contributing to the mass balance for extractives included various alditols (3-7%), aliphatic acids (7-21%), inorganic ions (10-18%), oligomeric sugars (4-12%), and a distribution of oligomers tentatively identified as being derived from phenolic glycosides (10-18%).

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-99-GO10337
OSTI ID:
941438
Journal Information:
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vol. 55, Issue 15, 2007; ISSN 0021-8561
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English