A Triple-Wavelength Visible Spectroscopic Method for Determination of Iron Content in Lignocellulosic Materials

The present paper described a triple-wavelength visible spectroscopic method for the determination of iron content in lignocellulosic materials. After the sample was pretreated with acidic hydrolysis method under selected conditions, the color agent, 1, 10-phenanthroline monohydrate, was added in the filtrate and then measured by a triple-wavelength spectroscopic method at wavelengths of 416, 510 and 700 nm, from which the iron contents of the sample can be calculated. The results showed that this method can efficiently deduct the influences of acidic soluble lignin and furfural compounds generated during the sample pretreatment and baseline drift caused by the tiny particles in the filtrates. It not only has a good measurement precision but also is accurate, in which the relative differences of the results obtained by the present method and ICP-OES method is less than 5%. The method is simple and practical, and suitable for industrial applications.