Property Assessment of Blended Biomass Feedstocks for Biosugar Production

Feedstock blendinghas been proposed as part of the solution for producing a uniform feedstock that will allow a sustainable and economical supply chain for biofuel production. Blending facilitates the use of regionally-available feedstocks for biorefining and reduces the cost biomass access. However, predicting the conversion performance of the blends is a challenge. The accessibility to the cellulose in constituent feedstocks is being evaluated as a criteria for blend selection. Corn stover, switchgrass, waste paper, and Miscanthus were selected as representative regional biomass feedstocks. Thermoporometry by differential scanning calorimetry (TP-DSC), enzyme adsorption by Ninhydrin assay analysis and crystallinity by x-ray diffraction (XRD) were performed on the feedstocks and blends. TP-DSC quantifies the water that is able to penetrate into the biomass nanoscale pores and the Ninhydrin assay analysis evaluates the adsorption of cellulases to the biomass. This information coupled with the crystallinity from XRD could serve as predictive parameters of the cellulose accessibility to enzymatic hydrolysis. The relationship between these parameters and enzymatic hydrolysis will be presented and the strategy of feedstock blending in terms of biosugar production will be discussed.