Determination of vitamins B2, B3, B6 and B7 in corn steep liquor by NIR and PLSR

Corn steep liquor (CSL) is an important raw material that has high nutritional value and serves as a nitrogen source. Biotin in CSL is especially of great importance to fermentation. In order to develop a fast, versatile, cheap, and environmentally safe analytical method for quantifying vitamins B2 (VB2), B3 (VB3), B6 (VB6) and B7 (VB7) in CSL, the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) measurements of 66 samples (22 batches) of CSL were analyzed by partial least-square regression (PLSR). Multivariate models developed in the NIR regions showed good predictive abilities for VB2, VB3, VB6 and VB7. Results confirmed the probability of the multivariate spectroscopic approach as a replacement for expensive and time-consuming conventional chemical methods.