Assessment of Bio-Fuel Characteristics of Bio-Oil Produced From Sawdust of Cordia Milenii and Nesogordonia Papaverifera Wood Species

The biomass conversion into fuels is a sustainable way to mitigate environmental issues such as global warming in parallel with an improvement of the energy security by reducing fossil fuels dependence. The study assessed the preparation and characterization of bio-oil produced from sawdust of selected wood species (Cordia milenii and Nesogordonia papaverifera) Sawdust samples of 200g each were collected from Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria sawmill at Ibadan and oven-dried at 103±2°C for 24 hours to 12% moisture content. Four replicates of bio-oil were produced at each temperature regime for each of the samples, two different temperature regimes were used (500°C and 600°C). The metallic container (pyrolytic chamber) was filled with 200 grams of the samples of each species and placed inside the Reactor which was connected to a condenser. Using standard test, physical properties, chemical and thermal characterization of bio oil and proximate analysis of the Bio-oil were assessed. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) was used to ascertain significance difference in the oil yield produced at different temperature. The result shows that there was general increase in the volume of oil yield as the temperature increases. The volume of the oil ranged between 38.00cm3 to 72.33 cm3 and 52.93 cm 3 to 63.63 cm3 respectively. The result of mean value for density (g/cm3 ) of pyrolytic oil yield ranged respectively from 1.00 to 0.94, and 0.98 to 1.04 for Cordia milenii and Nesogordonia papaverifera. There was significant difference in the means of the volume of bio-oil obtained as pyrolysis temperature increased. The result of proximate analysis of bio-oil produced from selected sawmill wood residues shows the percentage fixed carbon values ranged from 23.33 to 58.33 in Cordia milenii and 28.33 to 56.67 in Nesogordonia papaverifera. The study revealed that pyrolysis is an efficient way to produce liquid fuels from biomass. The physical properties of the bio-oil obtained from sawmill wood residues falls within the acceptable range for fuel production. The selected wood species are therefore suitable for production of biooil with acceptable physical and chemical properties.

Keywords: Bio-oil, Cordia milenii, Nesogordonia Papaverifera, Pyrolysis and Temperature.