Quantification of glucose, xylose, arabinose, furfural, and HMF in corncob hydrolysate by HPLC-PDA–ELSD

Abstract

Lignocellulose and other carbohydrates are being studied extensively as potential renewable carbon sources for liquid biofuels and other valuable chemicals. In the present study, a simple, sensitive, selective, and reliable HPLC method using a photodiode array (PDA) detector and an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) was developed for the simultaneous determination of important sugars (d(+)-cellobiose, glucose, xylose, and arabinose), furfural and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) in lignocellulose hydrolysate. The analysis was carried out on an Aminex HPX-87H column (250mm×4.6mm, 5μm particle size). Ultra-pure water with 0.00035M H2SO4 was used as the mobile phase with a flow rate of 0.6mL/min. The temperature of the ELSD drift tube was kept at 50°C, the carrier gas pressure was 350kPa, and the gain was set at 7. Furfural and 5-HMF were quantified on a PDA detector at 275nm and 284nm, respectively. The sugar concentrations were determined by ELSD. This method was validated for accuracy and precision. The regression equation revealed a good linear relationship (r2=0.9986±0.0012) within the test ranges. The method showed good reproducibility for the quantification of six analytes in corncob hydrolysate, with intra- and inter-day variations less than 1.12%. This method is also convenient because it allows the rapid analysis of the primary products of biomass hydrolysis and carbohydrate degradation.