High-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection (HPAE-PAD) overcomes the limitations other methods and delivers fast carbohydrate analysis. However, due to the high concentration of the biofuel samples, a several-fold sample dilution must be performed before analysis, introducing a source of error. In this study, 2 hardware modifications were applied to handle high-concentration samples: A reduced injection volume from 10 to 0.4 μL and an increase in spacer gasket thickness in the electrochemical flow cell to 62 mil to reduce detection sensitivity.

Wood, grass, and other lignocellulosic biomass are emerging as the preferred sources for biofuel and biochemical production. Compositional analysis of plant derived material is crucial for maximizing the yield of biofuel production. A single HPAE-PAD method, which uses the Dionex CarboPac PA20 column, can be used for the simultaneous determination of mono- and disaccharides and uronic acids.

This Application Note describes the use of two different anion-exchange columns with amperometric detection to analyze simple sugars, sugar alcohols, alcohols, and glycols in yeast and bacterial fermentation broths. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Yeast Extract-Peptone-Dextrose (YPD) broth and the bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli) in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth are common eukaryotic and prokaryotic fermentation systems, respectively. This record shows a method that is best for mono- and disaccharides.

A fast method using the Dionex CarboPac SA10 column was tested for determining the common coffee carbohydrates. This column achieves fast, high resolution separation of mono- and disaccharides commonly found in food samples. The Dionex CarboPac SA10 column is composed of a wide-pore macroporous substrate coated with a strong anion-exchange latex of nano-beads. The combination of the high capacity provided by the substrate and the new internal chemistry of the nano-bead functionality delivers high resolution and short analysis time for the common sugars of interest in food and beverages.

This study shows the AOAC official method 995.13 on a Thermo Scientific Dionex ICS-3000 system. Carbohydrates in extracts from instant coffee and green coffee beans were separated on a Dionex CarboPac PA1 column, and measured by electrochemical detection with disposable Au on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) working electrodes. A few proposed modifications of the official method achieved separation of two pairs of sugars, which are otherwise difficult to resolve.