On-line analysis of proximates (moisture, ash, volatile matter, and fixed carbon) and lignocellulose components (cellulose, semi-cellulose, and lignin) of coarse-crushed corn stover was investigated using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Compared with traditional technique, on-line measurement is complex and challenging but provides real-time analysis. The spectrometer operated over a conveyor belt that moved at 20 cm/s, and the distance between the spectrometer scanning window and the surface of the sample was 100 mm. Corn stover samples (n = 217) were collected from three provinces in China and used to develop the models. Samples were crushed to <50 mm before analysis. After optimized pretreatment, all the NIRS models were developed using partial least squares (PLS) method. The relative standard deviations (RSD) of the models for moisture, ash, volatile matter, fixed carbon, cellulose, semi-cellulose, and lignin were 9.04%, 9.99%, 1.31%, 6.00%, 3.87%, 6.80%, and 5.06%, respectively. On-line analysis of proximates and lignocellulose components of corn stover was possible using this NIRS system. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.