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Atlanta, GA | Posted: February 8, 2017
Kelly B. Smith kelly.smith@gatech.edu
Summary Sentence:
PSE grad and RBI Fellow focused on biomass in latest publication
Full Summary:
No summary paragraph submitted.
Allison Tolbert's work on Energy Science & Engineering coverAllison Tolbert, an RBI fellow and ChBE Ph.D. candidate and graduate research assistant was recently featured on the cover of Energy Science & Engineering. The cover art was based on a review paper title, "Advances in understanding the surface chemistry of lignocellulosic biomass via time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry."
The research was co-published with Dr. Art Ragauskas.
As the title indicates, it is a literature review of the ways ToF-SIMS can help researchers characterize biomass.
Characterizing the surface of biomass is often overlooked in pretreatment and microbial studies. Traditionally, analysis of the biomass bulk chemistry occurs to determine the impact a specific treatment has on the sample. Many pretreatments are used to help overcome the biomass recalcitrance prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. While most enzymes and microorganisms need to bind to the biomass surface, the surface is not a typically analyzed.
Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is a powerful tool capable of analyzing the lignocellulosic ions ejected from the biomass surface. Normalized ion intensities of cellulose, lignin, and even polysaccharides further our understanding of the chemistry changes on the surface. The ToF-SIMS can also spatially map these ion intensities in the plant cell wall.
The analysis of lignocellulosic biomass by ToF-SIMS has increased over the last 12 years. Various chemical pretreatment, biological treatment, and genetic modification studies have used this technique to provide information about the surface chemistry of the sample in addition to tradition bulk analysis data. This information along with sample preparation, details on the instrument, and lignocellulosic secondary ions are all covered in the review article. The full article can be read here.
