CHED 279 |
| Development of commercially viable chemical transformations of biomass components into platform chemicals is hampered in many cases by poisoning of the metal catalysts assisting these conversions. Sulfur contained in the small amount of protein in biomass is one type of catalyst poison. The goal of this project was to develop an Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectroscopic method to analyze trace sulfur (S) in biomass feedstocks and in subsequent residues from pretreatment reactions. Standard ED-XRF disks for S analysis were made with portions of dry Na2SO4 milled with pure cellulose (Avicel), and gave a straight line calibration from ~2000 to ~10 ppm (R2 = 0.997). The method was checked similarly with sawdust. Peak area with background correction from pure element parameters (S, Rh, P) afforded a very good correlation even though the sulfur peak was very small compared to neighboring peaks. Representative biomass feedstocks were analyzed for sulfur content. |
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Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Analytical Chemistry
11:00 AM-1:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |