CHEMICAL COMPOSITION STUDY OF SB RAS MISCANTHUS VARIETY HARVESTED IN 2013
The object of our study was Miscanthus of SB RAS Miscanthus sinensis variety (Miscanthus sinensis Andersson) cultivated in Altai Krai in 2013. This technical crop being a new cellulose-containing source for Russia, examination of the chemical composition in order to collect full information and substantiate the possibility of substituting Miscanthus for raw wood is topical. It has been found in the study performed by standard procedures for plant feedstock analysis that Miscanthus is characterized as having a Kürschner cellulose content of 47,84 %, fat-wax mass fraction of 2,81 % (dichloromethane as extragent), ash content of 4,62 %, acid-insoluble lignin mass fraction of 22,11 %, and pentosans mass fraction of 25,10 %. The findings are consistent with the foreign data on the chemical composition of Miscanthus. This technical crop is a promising, commercially important source of cellulose. Apart from extracting quality cellulose and synthesizing products of its chemical modification, Miscanthus also offers intermediate products – substrates for successful enzymatic digestion followed by bioconversion into ethanol.