Papers by Keyword: Sawdust

Abstract: This study investigates the production of biogas through the co-anaerobic digestion of cow dung and sawdust, utilizing thermochemical pretreatment to enhance lignin breakdown. A 50:50 and a 75:25 mixture of the substrates (Cowdung:sawdust) were subjected to sodium hydroxide pretreatment and thermal conditioning at 80°C. Lignin content reduced from 31.94% to 22.73%. The results demonstrated approximately a 43% increase in biogas yield for both the 50:50 and 75:25 substrate ratios. A four-day earlier gas production onset was recorded for pretreated substrates compared to untreated samples. The methane content of the biogas reached 56% (50:50 ratio) and 60% (75:25 ratio), with hydrogen sulfide at about 1% in both ratios. Process parameters such as pH, and temperature were measured. This study provides a scalable approach for waste-to-energy applications and demonstrates the role of pretreatment in improving substrate digestibility and biogas yield.

Abstract: The characterisation and insulating efficiencies of sawdust and rice husk in glass shavings reinforced termite clay-based (GSRTC) composite has been compared. Termite clay was unearthed from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) campus in Ondo State. It was processed to obtain 150 μm undersize. Glass shavings were processed to obtain 106 μm undersize. The glass shavings were then mixed with the termite clay in a constant weight proportion of 10%. Sawdust and rice husk were processed to obtain 150 μm undersize. The prepared blended GSRTC powder was mixed with the sawdust, and the rice husk in 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 wt.%. The resulting mixtures were compacted into cylindrical-shaped samples. The samples were dried and fired in a furnace at 1000°C for 2 hours. The chemical composition of GSRTC composite constituents was studied prior to the production of the composite. The control sample with only 10 wt.% of glass shaving possessed the highest: compressive strength; linear and volumetric shrinkage; bulk density; and thermal conductivity, while the sample with 10 wt.% of sawdust in GSRTC possessed the lowest: compressive strength (1.62 MPa); linear and volume shrinkage; bulk density (0.68 g/cm³); thermal conductivity (0.23 W/m-K).. Conclusively, the additive proportion and type affect composites' physical properties. An increase in additive proportion is accompanied by an increase in porosity, a reduction in porosity and bulk density. The compressive strength and thermal conductivity decreased with increasing additive content. GSRTC composites with sawdust additive possessed better insulating performance. However, GSRTC composite with rice husk additive displayed higher compressive strength.

Abstract: Due to the greenhouse effect of increased fossil fuel use, resulting in an increase in the period during which fossil fuels will remain available. Because of its advantages for the environment and its production from renewable resources, biodiesel has grown more appealing. As there is a supply of used cooking oil, interest in producing biodiesel is rising. This research examines how CaO and sawdust function as heterogeneous catalysts in transesterification regarding ethanol to produce bio-diesel from the used cooking oil. The impacts of the subsequent variables on the yield of the created biodiesel were investigated. Those parameters include the catalyst concentration (0.5-3 wt%), reaction period (1-4 hr), the molar ratio of ethanol to oil (8:1– 20:1), and temperature (45 to 80 °C). This led to the discovery that CaO catalyst is more efficient compared to the sawdust catalyst, with the maximum percentage yield being 75% for the sawdust catalyst and 95% for the CaO catalyst under catalyst conditions (0.50%), ethanol oil molar ratio of 20:1, and 65 Celsius temperature for 3 hours. It was evident from the results that the biodiesel fuel produced by the catalyst developed in this study fell within the acceptable range of biodiesel fuel.

Abstract: Environmental contamination might result from sawdust waste that has not been adequately managed. However, waste has a high economic value. This study aimed to analyze the characteristic model of sawdust after the carbonization process. The research method used the L9(3)4 Orthogonal Array experiment. The research variables included: drying temperature (X₁), drying time (X₂), carbonization temperature (X₃), and carbonization time (X₄), each with three levels of factors. The research response variables were moisture content (Y₁), volatile matter (Y₂), ash (Y₃), and fixed carbon (Y₄) of sawdust charcoal. The results showed that the average moisture content was 0.9%, volatile matter 8.3%, ash content 8.29%, and fixed carbon content 82.51%. According to the outcomes of multiple linear regression analysis, the correlation coefficients (R) of the four were very significant for moisture content, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon of 0.865, 0.929, 0.987, and 0.935, respectively. The optimum conditions obtained were water content X_1-2X_2-3X_3-3X_4-3, volatile material X_1-1X_2-1X_3-1X_4-1, ash content X_1-1X_2-1X_3-1X_4-1, and carbon content X_1-2X_2-1X_3-1X_4-1. The outcomes of the sawdust charcoal proximate analysis model validation test were normally distributed, and there was no homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, or negative autocorrelation. Thus, the four models produced in this study were feasible and valid so that they could use them to predict the physical material characteristics of teak sawdust.

Abstract: Sawdust materials are important for several reasons. They are cheap, lightweight, and have high insulation properties. Some of this material is incorporated into the concrete as part of the cement binder phase and as gravel. Micro-cracks and defects in concrete are responsible for the low tensile strength of concrete. This study proposes the use of sawdust as a partial replacement for fine aggregate. By volume, the sawdust gradually replaced the sand with a replacement percentage that varied from 0% to 100%. Nine reinforced concrete beams with a cross-section of 90 mm × 150 mm × 1000 mm (width × depth × length) and different replacement percentages were cast and tested after 28 days. All concrete beams are supported, with two simple supports at the ends of the beam and a loading point at the center of the beam to apply load gradually using 100 kN load cells and transverse frames. The addition of sawdust results in a reduction in the flexural strength of concrete beams. The flexural reinforced concrete beam test results were compared to the design strength calculated using British Standards. According to the results of the study, both the compressive and tensile strength of concrete decreased as sawdust content increased. The weight of the sawdust concrete mixture decreased with increased sawdust content. When the replacement percentage of sand was between 5% and 20%, the sawdust concrete mixture showed good results for the structural performance of the reinforced concrete beam.

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of using wastes sawdust as a replacement of fine aggregate (sand) on mechanical properties naming compressive, tensile and flexural strengths of ordinary Portland concrete. The wastes sawdust was treated before incorporating it in concrete mixtures. Three different methods were used to pre-treat the sawdust including a) soaking the sawdust in distilled water at 50 oC, b) soaking the sawdust in Ca (OH)2 solution, and c) soaking the sawdust in Ca (OH)2 solution and using a set accelerator in the concrete mixture. In addition to the control mixture (having no sawdust), three more concrete mixtures were prepared to explore the effect of the three different methods of pre-treatment on the mechanical properties of concrete. Results showed that the compressive strength of the concrete incorporating wastes sawdust pre-treated with the calcium hydroxide solution (slaked lime) and having the accelerator was higher than that of the control mixture. The tensile and flexural strengths of the concrete mixture having waste sawdust pre-treated by Ca (OH)2 solution and having the accelerator were found to be very comparable to those of the control mixture. On the other hand, the compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths of the concrete mixture with sawdust pre-treated by Ca (OH)2 solution only were somehow comparable to those of concrete mixture having sawdust pre-treated by distilled water. While the compressive strength of the concrete mixtures incorporating sawdust pre-treated with either Ca (OH)2 solution or distilled water was less than that of the control mixture, both tensile and flexural strengths of the two treated concrete mixtures were approximately comparable to those of the control mixture.

Abstract: This study aims to assess the impact of time on sawdust usage to enhance the behavior of the clay used in landfills. The soil used in this paper was brought from Büyükçekmece region / Istanbul. Four proportions (1, 2, 3 and 5) of the sawdust were added as a percentage of the dry weight of the soil. Soil-sawdust mixtures were compacted with the optimum water content corresponding to each percentage and samples were extracted. The extracted samples were divided into two groups, the immediate tests were performed on the first group while the second group was kept in special containers for long-term tests after 90 days. A series of undrained unconsolidated triaxial tests (UU) and unconfined compression tests (UCS) were performed on the specimens and compared with the row soil, in the immediate tests, the results from the UU triaxial test showed that the undrained shear strength was increased as the sawdust content increased and then decreased, it was conducted that the optimum sawdust content was 3%, it was increased the undrained shear strength by (39.5%) and (41.44%) for UU triaxial and Unconfined compression tests respectively. After 90 days of the curing period, it found that 2% is the optimum sawdust content, it was increased the undrained shear strength by (202.51%) and (176.64%) for UU triaxial and unconfined compression test respectively. In the immediate and long-term tests, the coefficient of permeability increased by (66.66) and (94.44%) as the sawdust increased from 0 to 5 % respectively. Sawdust increases the hydraulic conductivity of the clay. It can be concluded that the sawdust usage has a remarkable effect on the shear strength of the clay for both immediate and long-term tests.

Abstract: The upcycling process of agricultural waste for cellulose production has been attempted. In this study, cellulose was extracted from sawdust of the rain tree using 4% (w/v) NaOH solution. 1.5 g of extracted cellulose was soaked in water and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA) respectively. The soaked cellulose was dissolved in dimethylacetamide/LiCl and reacted with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) yielding tetramethylsilylcellulose (TMSC). The IR spectrum shows the presence of-Si (CH₃)₃ groups: ν_Si-O at 1047 cm^-1, ν_C-Si at 1252, 843 and 750 cm^-1. The ¹H-NMR result confirms the presence of-Si (CH₃)₃ groups at  0 ppm and pyranose ring protons in the range of 2.8-4.5 ppm. SEM image of TMSC shows the fibrous characteristics of cellulose while the EDX shows the presence of Si. The degree of substitution (DS) values calculated from FT-IR and EDX data are 2.33 and 2.08 respectively. 1.0% w/v TMSC solution in THF was prepared. A Small piece (2.0 cm x 4.0 cm) of filter paper was dipped into the TMSC solution for 30 min. The coated paper has an average contact angle of 116o. However the characteristic bands of the TMSC were not observed from FT-IR analysis. While the EDX shows the presence of Si on the paper surface..

Abstract: This study investigated the effect of sawdust at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt% towards physical properties and filtration efficiency of porous clay membrane. Sawdust in various quantities was added into water containing clay, polyethylene glycol and sodium silicate and then stirred to form homogenized slurry. The slurry then was casted into Plaster of Paris (PoP) mould. The green body was cut into required sizes, dried and sintered in furnace at 1000 °C. The porosity and density of porous clay was determined by Archimedes principle, while morphology was observed by Hitachi Tabletop Scanning Electron Microscope (TTSEM). The filtration test was examined on a dead-end filtration setup in batch mode operation using nitrogen as carrier gas. Distilled water was filtered and used to determine membrane permeability, while aquaculture wastewater filtration was used to determine the turbidity removal. Turbidity of aquaculture wastewater and effluent (after filtration) were measured using turbidity meter. The results indicated that porosity increased from 38 % to 64 %, while density decreased from 1.5 g/cm³ to 0.8 g/cm³ with increasing amount of sawdust from 0 to 40 wt%. This data was supported by TTSEM which is indicate that the amount of pores increased with increasing amount of sawdust. Permeation of membrane increased from 45289 to 143999 L.h^-1.m^-2.bar^-1 and efficiency of turbidity removal increased from 87 % to 89 % with increasing amount of sawdust from 0 to 40 wt%. As conclusion, 30 wt% was an optimum amount of sawdust which is produced ceramic membrane with good structure integrity, porosity, high permeability and high turbidity removal.

Abstract: This study considered the production of composite ceiling boards from both agricultural and industrial wastes. Boards with different blending proportions by weight of cement, corncob and sawdust (Cem:Ccb:Swd) were produced and tested. Physical and mechanical tests such as Water Absorption (WA), Thickness Swelling (TS), Modulus of Elasticity (MOE) and Modulus of Rupture (MOR) were carried out on the products. The findings revealed that the board with Cem:Ccb:Swd blending proportion 50:10:40 gave the highest values of MOE and MOR and also had the lowest values of WA and TS. The MOE and MOR values of 3.432 are both higher than the minimum values of 550 N/mm² and 3 N/mm² specified for MOE and MOR respectively by the American National Standard Institute, for general-use particle boards. The cement content is inversely proportional to the physical properties and directly proportional to the mechanical properties.