GCMS used in biofuel study

Scientists have used gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) to study the differences in product yield of certain crops used for biofuels.

A team from the Universities of Kentucky and Massachusetts noted to the Biotechnology for Biofuels journal that lignin is a highly abundant biopolymer, synthesised by plants as a complex component of plant secondary cell walls, but further efforts are needed to properly utilise lignin-based bio-products.

Using GCMS, the scientists characterised lignin derived deconstruction products from endocarp biomass and compared these with switchgrass, to determine which feedstocks displayed the highest levels of lignin.

The study found that there were higher amounts of certain products in switchgrass compared to endocarp tissue, consistent with high holocellulose relative to lignin.

"Differences in product yield, thermal decomposition rates and molecular species distribution among the feedstocks illustrate the potential for high lignin endocarp feedstocks to generate valuable chemicals by thermochemical deconstruction," the team stated in the report.