A pretreatment option that has received less attention in the biofuels community to date is the use of alkaline pretreatment for the partial de-polymerization of lignin from intact biomass. This pretreatment creates two process streams: a carbohydrate enriched solid fraction and an aqueous black liquor fraction enriched in lignin. Recently, new biological approaches have been shown to valorize lignin present in these black liquor streams, generating much interest in the chemical makeup of the lignin deconstruction products that are present, and consumed by, these microorganisms. In this seminar, analysis of these chemically complex black liquors will be discussed using a new technique that utilizes GCxGC-TOFMS for tracking individual chemical components. Furthermore, this seminar will discuss how this method can be applied to track compounds throughout a biological conversion process and how it can be applied to lignin rich materials in general.

Quantifying lignin degradation products produced from alkaline pretreatment

251st National Meeting (2016)

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