Spectroscopic analysis of bio-oil produced from sawdust of three hard wood species in Nigeria

Abstract

Environmental implications of use of fossil fuel are fast becoming a global issue. The use of fossil fuel has been implicated in the accumulation of greenhouse gases, and the shift towards use of environment friendly sources of fuel is becoming popular. In this study wood waste from three tropical hardwoods were investigated for their potential to produce biofuel. Pyrolytic degradation was used to produce bio-oil from the sawdusts of Gmelina arborea, Nessogordonia papaverifera and Cordia millenii .The functional groups and various classes of chemical compositions present in thee bio-oil obtained at different temperature conditions were identified by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analysis. The oxygen content is reflected by the presence of oxygenated fractions such as carboxylic and alcohol groups produced by pyrolysis of the cellulose, phenolic and methoxy groups produced by pyrolysis of the lignin. The bio-oil obtained showed comparable fuel properties and can be treated as moderate grade commercial fuels. In order to utilize it as commercial transportation fuel certain enhancement in properties like density and corrosiveness have to be normalize. The bio-oil obtained contains chemical compounds of varying carbon chain length from C₄ - C₂₇ and functional groups such as alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, alcohols, ketones, aldehyde, aromatic rings, amides and nitrile compounds. The thermal degradation processes (pyrolysis), may help to reduce environmental pollution, deforestation at the same time providing greater amounts of desirable, renewable fuel and chemical source.

Keywords: Fossil fuel, Bio-oil, Pyrolysis, Biomass, wood residue