determined using the two-stage sulfuric acid hydrolysis method28 with slight modifications.29 (link) For neutral sugar analysis, approximately 0.25 g of each
dried sample was dissolved in 1 mL of 72% sulfuric acid for 1 h in
a 30 °C water bath. Each mixture was quantitatively diluted by
adding 28 mL of distilled water (final sulfuric acid concentration,
4%), and each solution was incubated for 1 h at 121 °C. The resulting
hydrolysate was filtered through a 0.2 μm high-performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC)-certified filter (GE Healthcare, Little Chalfont,
UK). The neutral sugars obtained via acid hydrolysis were analyzed
by HPLC (Prominence, Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan) on SP0810
columns (Showa Denko K. K., Kanagawa, Japan), with a charged aerosol
detector (Corona Veo RS; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).
Neutral sugars were eluted with acetonitrile/water 13.0/87.0 (v/v)
at a flow rate of 0.5 mL min–1. Analytical grade
used as standards to quantify the neutral sugars. Since a coal sample
does not contain neutral sugar and only a biomass sample contains
neutral sugar, the content of biomass in the mixture can be estimated
from the following equation.