Rapid determination of formic and acetic acids in biomass hydrolysate by headspace gas chromatography

A headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) method is developed for determination of formic acid (FA) and acetic acid (AA) in biomass hydrolysate. The method is based on the "in-vial" derivatization reaction of alcohols and acids. NaHSO4/ethanol is selected as the preferred derivatization reagent. The method has a reproducibility of RSD <0.87% and recovery of 97.1%-103.1%. The limits of the quantification were 2.02 and 2.38 mg/L for FA and AA, respectively. The GC analysis time only required 12.4 min. The method is rapid, sensitive and suitable for measuring FA and AA in the multifarious biomass hydrolysates in pulping and biorefinery industries. (C) 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.