Thermogravimetric Analysis as a High-Throughput Lignocellulosic Biomass Characterization Method

The characterization of lignocellulosic biomass is essential to unlocking the promise of lignocellulosic biorefineries through facilitated feedstock selection, optimized valorization strategies, minimized costs, and reduced environmental impacts. Although current characterization approaches are accurate and consistent on a laboratory scale, such “wet-laboratory” methods are time and labor intensive, with a low sample throughput and limited scale-up potential. Herein, we report the development of a rapid and efficient characterization strategy for whole lignocellulosic biomass using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). We demonstrate that this TGA approach achieves accuracy and repeatability comparable to that of the standard procedure from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). In comparison to the NREL procedure, the TGA characterization method requires a fraction of the experimental time and sample quantity and minimizes the volume of chemical reagents needed and waste generated. We also leverage this TGA approach to predict the yields of phenolic products obtained from whole biomass deconstruction via reactive distillation-reductive catalytic fractionation. As such, TGA is demonstrated as a powerful lignocellulosic biomass characterization tool with broad applicability in biorefining.