Optimization Studies on Subcritical Water Extraction of Fuels and Fine Chemicals from Prosopis juliflora: An Invasive Weed Tree

Waste lignocellulosic biomass obtained from the dry plant matter is the most abundantly available resource for the production of biofuels, and biochar. The invasive weed tree of Prosopis juliflora was employed as feedstock for the extraction process, which converts biomass into biogas, bio-oil, and biochar in the presence of subcritical water at high temperatures (250 °C to 374 °C) and pressures (4-22 MPa). The extraction process was performed inside a 50 ml stainless steel hydrothermal reactor with 3.5 g of feedstock and varying process parameters such as temperatures (250–325 °C) and reaction time (30–120 min) and biomass to water loading (10–30 % w/v). The response surface methodology was employed to optimize the parameters for maximizing the bio-oil yield under subcritical condition using Design Expert 8.0.7.1 software. The % yield of bio-oil and biochar during this process were taken as responses. The biomass and bio-oil were characterized using proximate and ultimate elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, and gas-chromatography mass spectroscopy. The results showed that the maximal yield of bio-oil 3.65 % was obtained at a temperature of 277.62 °C, reaction time 59.98 min and biomass to water loading 20.13 % w/v. The resulted bio-oil was found to contain long-chain alkanes, ketones, carboxylic acids, amines, and phenols

WOOD AND PLYWOOD QUALITY CHARACTERIZATION OF NEW AND ALTERNATE SPECIES AMENABLE FOR COMPOSITE WOOD PRODUCTION

India is one of the robust consumers of engineered wood products and the raw material demand for engineered wood production is increasing at an alarming rate. Currently the plywood industries in the country depends only on few species and demands screening of alternate and species amenable for plywood production. Therefore studies were conducted to characterize the physical and mechanical properties of eight different tree species viz., Toona ciliata, Chukrasia tabularis, Acacia hybrid, Neolamarckia cadamba, Acrocarpus fraxinifolius, Swietenia macrophylla, Casuarina equisetifolia and Mitragyna parvifolia which are potential tree components in Agroforestry system. The physical properties like density exhibited wider variation between the species. In general, all species exhibited medium to high density values. The studies on veneer recovery indicated that barring Mitragyna parvifolia, all other species exhibited more than 50% veneer recovery and extend greater scope of adoption. Similarly the veneer quality exhibited wide differences and several species registered face veneer quality. The analysis of mechanical properties of plywood made out of all eight species indicated that the Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) was well within the acceptable range and the Modulus of Rupture (MOR) was on higher side which indicated that these species could play a vital role in manufacture of medium to high density plywood

Isolation and characterization of nanocellulose from selected hardwoods, viz., Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. and Casuarina equisetifolia L., by steam explosion method

Abstract Extraction of nanocellulose is challenging, especially from hardwoods due to its complex chemical structure as well as structural hierarchy. In this study, nanocellulose was isolated from wood pulp of two hardwood species, namely Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. and Casuarina equisetifolia L. by steam explosion process. Pure cellulose wood pulp was obtained through Kraft pulping process followed by alkaline and bleaching pre-treatments. Isolated nanocellulose was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) Spectra, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. Nanocellulose obtained from both species showed non-significant difference with average diameter of 27.801 nm for eucalyptus and 28.690 nm for casuarina, which was confirmed from TEM and AFM images. FTIR spectra of nanocellulose showed prominent peaks corresponding to cellulose and absence of peaks corresponding to lignin. The elemental purity of nanocellulose was confirmed with EDAX detector. XRD analysis showed the enrichment of crystalline cellulose in nanocellulose, and also confirmed the significant conversion of cellulose I to cellulose II. During TG analysis the untreated fibres started to degrade earlier than the nanocellulose which indicated the higher thermal stability of nanocellulose. Highly entangled network like structure along with high aspect ratio make the nanofibres a versatile material for reinforcing the composites. This successful method can be replicated for industrial level production of cellulose nanofibres

Genetic Diversity and Structure of <i>Terminalia bellerica</i> (Gaertn. Roxb.) Population in India as Revealed by Genetic Analysis

In this study, an extensive exploration survey of wild progeny was conducted which yielded 18 candidate plus trees (CPTs) of Terminalia bellerica. Seeds of these CPTs were collected from diverse locations between 10°54′ and 28°07′ E longitude, and 76°27′ and 95°32′ N latitude, covering 18 different locations across 5 states of the Indian subcontinent. The objective of the progeny trial was to assess genetic associations and variability in growth and physio-chemical characteristics. Significant variations (p 2b) estimates were consistently high, exceeding 80% for all growth and physiological related traits under investigation except for plant height, leaf length, and girth at breast height. A correlation study revealed that selecting based on plant height, leaf area, and girth at breast height effectively enhances T. bellerica volume. A moderate genetic advance in percent of the mean (GAM) was observed for most traits, except leaf length, leaf width, girth at breast height, and plant height. Across all 13 traits, phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) surpassed genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV). Utilizing principal component analysis (PCA) and dendrogram construction categorized the genotypes into seven distinct groups. In conclusion, the study has demonstrated that targeting girth at breast height and plant height would be a highly effective strategy for the establishment of elite seedling nurseries and clonal seed nurseries for varietal and hybridization programs in the future