Product yield distribution and Essential Oil Composition of Eucalyptus Terminalis Sawdust Pyrolysis
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In this study, pyrolysis of sawdust sample (Western blood-wood- Eucalyptus
terminalis) was investigated. Experiments were performed at six temperature levels ranging
from 300 oC to 800 oC under N2 atmosphere. The weights of char, tar and gas yields produced in
each experiment were measured and recorded in percentage of initial weight of the pyrolyzed
sample. Results of the study showed that product yield of Eucalyptus terminalis char, tar and
gas of 41.28% at 300 oC, 45.10% at 300 oC and 57.20% at 800 oC, respectively were produced.
Proximate analysis shows that volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content and moisture content
of sawdust sample were 75.53%, 15.35%, 1.56% and 7.56%, respectively. Result of the
elemental analysis shows that the carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur contents of
the sawdust sample were 54.19%, 7.05%, 0.97%, 37.15%, and 0.64%, respectively. The higher
heating value and pH of the sawdust sample are 23.40 kJ/g and 2.30% respectively. This
indicate that char and tar yields decrease with increased pyrolysis temperature while gas
yield increases as pyrolysis temperature increases for the sawdust sample. The value of the
correlation coefficient obtained indicate a fairly high degree of accuracy of the regression
models to predict experimental result when used within the temperature range considered in
this study. Result of analytical Py-GC/MS shows that the proportion of phenolic compounds
identified was more than 50% with trans-2-octadecadecen-1-ol, cis-10-pentadecen-1-ol, 9-
octadecenal and methyl-1-cyclohexenyl ketone dominating. This study establishes the fact that
pyro-oil can not only be used as a fuel but can also be purified and serves as raw materials for
chemical and processing industries.
Keywords
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery, TP Chemical technology