Thermo Fisher Scientific has developed two rapid and robust high-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) methods for the accurate determination of common sugars in acid-hydrolyzed wood samples.

Application Note (AN) 1089: Determination of Carbohydrates in Acid Hydrolysates of Wood demonstrates that this approach achieves high-resolution separation of even the sugar pair rhamnose-galactose that has been challenging to resolve using existing HPAE-PAD methods. Both methods use a new polymeric column, the Thermo Scientific^™ Dionex^™ CarboPac^™ SA10-4μm column, configured with a new system, the Thermo Scientific Dionex ICS-5000⁺ HPIC^™ system, capable of high-pressure ion chromatography.

Biofuels are now widely accepted as an alternative to fossil fuels, and wood-based biofuels are expected to become a competitive commercial alternative by 2020. In order to maximize the biomass-to-biofuel conversion and thus improve ethanol yield, the determination of carbohydrates in wood hydrolysates is of crucial importance during biofuel production. To that end, these new AN 1089 methods can enable biofuel producers to better monitor and control their production processes. Method performance parameters (precision, accuracy, linearity) demonstrate that the methods are fast, provide good sensitivity and consistent response, and can be routinely used to determine sugars in wood samples.

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