Grown biomass was dried in the oven (60 C), shredded mechanically (particle size < 5 mm), and stored in sealed polythene bags at room temperature until use. Analysis of the canola biomass revealed that it comprised approximately 39.4% cellulose, 20.5% hemicellulose, 16% moisture, 12.9% acid soluble lignin, 11% ash, and 2% other extracts.
After biomass composition analysis, samples were washed to remove all the dust particles and stored at 4 C until further experiments. Cellulose, xylan, and lignin content in the untreated and pretreated biomass were measured following the NREL protocol [14,15].