PNNL

Abstract

Anhydrosugars, such as levoglucosan and its isomers (mannosan, galactosan), as well as the solvent-extractable lignin phenols (methoxylated phenols) are thermal degradation products of cellulose/hemicellulos and lignin, respectively. These two groups of biomarkers are often used as unique tracers of combusted biomass inputs in diverse environmental media. However, detail characterization of the relative proportion and signatures of these compounds in highly heterogeneous plant-derived chars/charcoals are still scarce. Here we conducted a systematic study to investigate the yields of solvent-extractable anhydrosugars and lignin phenols in twenty-five lab-made chars produced from different plant materials under different combustion conditions. Solvent extractable anhydrosugars and lignin phenols were only observed in chars formed below 350?C and yields were variable across different combustion temperatures. The yields mannosan (M) and galactosan (G) decreased more rapidly than those of levoglucosan (L) under increasing combustion severity (temp. and duration), resulting in variable L/M and L/(M+G) ratios, two diagnostic ratios often used for identification of combustion sources (e.g. hardwoods vs. softwoods vs. grasses). On the other hand, the results of this study suggest that the ratios of the major solvent-extractable lignin phenols (vanillyls (V), syringyls (S), cinnamyls (C)) provide additional source reconstruction potential despite observed variations with combustion temperature. We thus propose using a property property plot (L/M vs. S/V) as an improved means for source characterization of biomass combustion residues. The L/M-S/V plot has shown to be effective in environmental samples (soil organic matter, atmospheric aerosols) receiving substantial inputs of biomass combustion residues.