The Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) provides a fast and efficient way to extract various biomass samples for sugar analysis to determine sample viability for alcohol production. This application note describes methods for the extraction of sugars from biomass samples using acidified solvents (in-cell hydrolysis) and extracting pre-hydrolyzed samples.

XAD resins are used as solid phase extraction materials for applications in water and air sampling. When received, resins are wet and contain contaminants. The current methods for cleaning and eluting require large amounts of solvent and time. Here, an XAD-2 resin is cleaned using ASE, then spiked with organochlorine pesticides (OCP) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) standards and eluted using ASE. The results show that ASE effectively and efficiently cleans and dries the resin without damaging the particles, and is able to elute OCP and PAH compounds from XAD resin with good results.

Compounds used in high explosives may be toxic, carcinogenic, and are found on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) list. These compounds and their metabolites are monitored in soils and ground waters to ensure compliance with U.S. EPA regulations. This application note reports on the use of ASE for the extraction of explosive compounds such as HMX, RDX, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and some of their known metabolites from soils.

The procedures described in this application note meet the requirements for sample extraction as determined by U. S. EPA Method 3545(A). This method is applicable to the extraction of water-insoluble or slightly water-soluble volatile and semivolatile compounds in preparation for GC/MS measurement. This method is applicable to soils, clays, wastes, and sediments containing from 250–12500 µg/kg of BNA compounds.

As a result of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) enacted in 1990, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) require that the nutritional content of processed and packaged food is declared on the product label. This application updates AN 321 and demonstrates the fast and simple gravimetric determinations of total unbound fat in snack foods using the Dionex ASE 350 system combined with the Rocket Evaporator.