Sawdust

About: Sawdust is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5526 publications have been published within this topic receiving 86499 citations. The topic is also known as: wood dust & hard wood dust.

Valorization of Mexican biomasses through pyrolysis, combustion and gasification processes

Abstract: Pyrolysis, combustion and gasification processes of six different types of biomass, which were obtained from Mexico (Castor husk, Castor stem, Agave bagasse, Coffee pulp, Opuntia stem and Pinus sawdust) were investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis coupled with mass spectrometry (TG-MS). The selection of biomass, for each thermochemical process, depended on its main physico-chemical properties (moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content, calorific value, mineral content, etc.). For pyrolysis processes, the desirable characteristics of biomass are high volatile matter and low ash content. For combustion processes, the biomass has to show high low heating value (LHV) and low ash content. In the case of gasification processes, the biomass ought to have high fixed carbon. Pinus sawdust had the highest volatile matter and the lowest ash content, Castor stem showed the highest LHV and Coffee pulp had the highest fixed carbon content. The pyrolysis process was divided in three main stages (dehydration, devolatilization and char formation). Moreover, for Agave bagasse two more peaks at high temperature were found due to the decomposition of lignin and cellulose but it could also be related to its high mineral content. On the other hand, three main different stages (dehydration, devolatilization and char oxidation) for the combustion process were found. It is noticeable that Coffee pulp showed one more peak than other studied biomasses, which is related to its high lignin content. Due to its high heat released, Castor husk could be considered as the best candidate for combustion process. However, Pinus sawdust can be considerate more suitable for this process because of its low amount of NOx released. In addition, for gasification process the effect of the gas flow was studied. Coffee pulp resulted to be the most suitable for gasification process due to the amount and quality of the fuel gas produced.

Potential of Wheat Straw, Spruce Sawdust, and Lignin as High Organic Carbon Soil Amendments to Improve Agricultural Nitrogen Retention Capacity: An Incubation Study.

Abstract: Plants like winter wheat are known for their insufficient N uptake between sowing and the following growing season. Especially after N-rich crops like oilseed rape or field bean, nitrogen retention of the available soil N can be poor, and the risk of contamination of the hydrosphere with nitrate (NO3-) and the atmosphere with nitrous oxide (N2O) is high. Therefore, novel strategies are needed to preserve these unused N resources for subsequent agricultural production. High organic carbon soil amendments (HCA) like wheat straw promote microbial N immobilization by stimulating microbes to take up N from soil. In order to test the suitability of different HCA for immobilization of excess N, we conducted a laboratory incubation experiment with soil columns, each containing 8 kg of sandy loam of an agricultural Ap horizon. We created a scenario with high soil mineral N content by adding 150 kg NH4+-N ha-1 to soil that received either wheat straw, spruce sawdust or lignin at a rate of 4.5 t C ha-1, or no HCA as control. Wheat straw turned out to be suitable for fast immobilization of excess N in the form of microbial biomass N (up to 42 kg N ha-1), followed by sawdust. However, under the experimental conditions this effect weakened over a few weeks, finally ranging between 8 and 15 kg N ha-1 immobilized in microbial biomass in the spruce sawdust and wheat straw treatment, respectively. Pure lignin did not stimulate microbial N immobilization. We also revealed that N immobilization by the remaining straw and sawdust HCA material in the soil had a greater importance for storage of excess N (on average 24 kg N ha-1) than microbial N immobilization over the 4 months. N fertilization and HCA influenced the abundance of ammonia oxidizing bacteria and archaea as the key players for nitrification, as well as the abundance of denitrifiers. Soil with spruce sawdust emitted more N2O compared to soil with wheat straw, which in relation released more CO2, resulting in a comparable overall global warming potential. However, this was counterbalanced by advantages like N immobilization and mitigation of potential NO3- losses.

Treated Tropical Wood Sawdust-Polypropylene Polymer Composite: Mechanical and Morphological Study

Abstract: In this research, composites based on treated tropical sawdust and polypropylene (PP) were prepared using hot press molding machine Raw sawdust was chemically treated with monomer, 2 - ethylhexyl methacrylate in order to improve the mechanical properties of the composites The influence of the chemically treated sawdust on the physical and mechanical properties of sawdust-PP composites were investigated at various loading level from 10 wt% up to 30 wt% Results indicate that the mechanical properties of the chemically treated sawdust–PP composites were found to be higher than those of the raw ones respectively The surface morphology obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that raw sawdust–PP composites possess surface roughness and weak interfacial adhesion between the matrix and the filler while the chemically treated one showed improved filler–matrix interaction This indicates that better dispersion of the filler with the PP matrix has occurred upon chemical treatment of the filler Water absorption tests showed that composites prepared from the chemically treated sawdust absorb lower amount of water compared to the ones prepared from raw sawdust, suggesting that hydrophilic nature of the cellulose in the sawdust has significantly decreased upon chemical treatment