Production and Quality Assessment of Glucose Syrup from Selected Biomass Sources

Aims: Studies were conducted on the production and quality evaluation of glucose syrup from three different types of biomass: Eucalyptus sawdust (soft wood), Mahogany sawdust (hard wood), and Rice husk.
Study Design: A 3x1x1x3 Factorial design was used.
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Food science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria, between October 2009 and October 2013.
Methodology: The biomass samples, after thorough cleaning, were pretreated with 1% Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and then hydrolyzed with 5% Hydrogen tetraoxosulphate six (H2SO4) in an autoclave at 1200C for 30 min. The extract was filtered to obtain clear glucose solutions, which were evaluated for some physico – chemical and nutritional properties using standard methods of analysis.
Results: There were significant differences (P = .05) in the yield and glucose content of the syrups, with values ranging from 59.33% to 70.40% and 21.63% to 25.20% respectively, with Eucalyptus sawdust having the least value and Rice husk the highest. There were also significant differences (P = .05) in the nutritional properties with values ranging from 1.60% to 2.01% (crude fat), 2.40% to 3.01% (ash), 4.50% to 5.08% (crude protein), 81.57% to 87.99% (moisture content), and 3.11% to 9.60% (carbohydrate). Rice husk had the highest moisture, protein and carbohydrate contents, while soft wood had the highest fat and ash contents. Mineral and heavy metal content also showed a similar trend. Toxicant content also differed significantly (P= .05) in the different biomass samples with soft wood and rice husk giving higher and lower values respectively.
Conclusion: Biomass therefore has the potential of being converted to useful products such as glucose syrup. Rice husk produced the best quality glucose with higher yield, followed by soft wood and hard wood in that order.