Recommendations to Mitigate Potential Sources of Error in Preparation of Biomass Sorghum Samples for Compositional Analy
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Recommendations to Mitigate Potential Sources of Error in Preparation of Biomass Sorghum Samples for Compositional Analyses Used in Industrial and Forage Applications Matthew B. Whitfield & Mari S. Chinn & Matthew W. Veal
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Abstract Sweet and forage varieties of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) can produce large quantities of soluble sugars, starch, and fiber in a single crop and so are highly suited for bioenergy production. To develop this potential, it is critical to reliably quantify the components of the biomass: primarily carbohydrates (monosaccharides, sucrose, starch, and holocellulose) as well as lignin and extractives. Techniques compiled by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are commonly used for these analyses; however, some characteristics of sorghum require some adaptation of those methods. Here, we present an analysis of some of these characteristics and a modified analytical procedure to account for them. In particular, greater accuracy can be obtained by separating the pith and rind portions of the stalk prior to analysis. Several important properties of the stalk differ between the pith and rind, and in many cases, the magnitude of that difference varies among cultivars. As we demonstrate, analyzing the stalk without separating the pith and rind can lead to systematic bias in the measurement of these properties and lignocellulosic composition; if separation is not possible, the bias can be mitigated by exercising care in ensuring a representative subsampling of ground material. Some modifications to initial Soxhlet extraction procedures also improve the accuracy and practicality of the biomass analysis.
Keywords Sweet sorghum . Forage sorghum . Physical properties . Fermentable sugars . Biofuel . Lignocellulose
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12155-014-9476-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. M. B. Whitfield : M. S. Chinn (*) : M. W. Veal Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7625, Raleigh, NC 27695-7625, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is of interest as a bioenergy crop because it is capable of producing large quantities of soluble sugars, starch, and fiber. Sweet and forage cultivars in particular can produce high biomass and sugar yields [1] and can be grown over most of the USA as an annual crop [2]; the fermentable sugars produced can be largely recovered by pressing the juice of the plant [3–5], in which form they can be easily fermented [6, 7]. Additionally, the crop has relatively low water requirements, is not especially prone to disease, and has a short growing season [8]. As such, there is a great deal of current study of the physiology and composition of the plant, typically in service of cultivar selection [9, 10] and breeding improvement [11–13]; optimization of agronomic practices [14, 15] and exploration of new regions of productio
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