Energy and Power 2014, 4(3): 54-57 DOI: 10.5923/j.ep.20140403.02 Combustion Properties of Some Tropical Wood Species and Their Pyrolytic Products Characterization Adegoke O. A. 1,* , Fuwape J. A. 2 , Fabiyi J. S. 2 1 Department of Wood and Paper Technology, Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, Nigeria 2 Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria Abstract This paper evaluates the combustion properties of fuelwood and pyrolytic products from three selected sawmill wood residues - Gmelina arborea, Terminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon. Pyrolysis experiments were performed at 450, 500 and 550°C. The percentage oil, pH, viscosities were considered. The highest yield of oil yield was at 550°C (45.70%) for Triplochiton scleroxylon out of the three sawmill wood residues. The analysis of variance conducted on pyrolytic oil produced at 450, 500 and 550°C for the G. arborea, and T. scleroxylon showed no significant difference but there were significant differences in the pH and viscosity of the pyrolytic liquid produced from selected wood species at the same conversion temperatures. The result showed the proximate analysis of the selected wood residues with the ash content (2.75, 2.61, and 3.57 %); fixed carbon (10.52, 12.07 and 10.23%); volatile (87.55, 85.48 and 86.46%) and heating value of 32792.75, 32691.56 and 32794.15 KJ/kg for Gmelina arborea, Terminalia superba and Triplochiton scleroxylon respectively. Proximate analysis results showed that the selected wood residues have good potential for domestic cooking and the characterized pyrolytic oil produced for biofuel production, most importantly for bioenergy sustainable system. Keywords Combustion, Pyrolysis, Pyrolytic oil, Wood residues, Bioenergy 1. Introduction Wood which is the dominant biomass used in energy generation is a lignocellulosic biomass that is a clean biomass. The products from wood comprises of slab, twigs, leaves off-cut, branches, planks, boards, sawdust, among others. Wood has been extensively studied because of its use as a construction material [1, 2] and as fuel source [3]. Combustion properties of wood are also important because of safety issues since it is one of the more commonly available flammable materials. Based on its widely usage, wood has been the major source of renewable energy for developing countries The renewable energy source can play a major role for sustainable development. The urgent need in most developing countries like Nigeria is the migration to sustainable energy system and one of the energy sources is wood waste or sawmill residues which are regarded as waste in many sawmills industries. The availability of fossil fuels is limited, considering the fact that the demand for energy from fossil fuel is growing at high rate due to industrial development and is a major contributing factor to energy crisis. The energy crisis and fuel tension made biomass (forest residues) fast pyrolysis * Corresponding author: aolaoluwa.adegoke@gmail.com (Adegoke O. A.) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ep Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved liquefaction a more important area of research and development [4-6]. In particular, the most advanced biomass pyrolysis processes, oriented to the production of an organic liquid fuel (referred to as bio-oil, bio-fuel-oil or bio-crude-oil, pyrolytic oil), appear to be very interesting for several possible energy application that can be envisaged for this fuel. The combustion property of selected tropical wood species was considered investigated and its pyrolytic oil characterization. This study became important in view of the recent interest in the use of wood biomass, sawdust in particular as waste. However, the study seeks to find a path way of utilizing sawdust during the conversion of the wood in sawmill as domestic wood fuel and bio-oil production thus, minimizing waste and reducing global warming through drastic burning [10]. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Samples Preparation Gmelina (Gmelina arborea), Afara (Terminalia superba) and Obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon) wood residues (sawdust) collected from a local sawmill located at Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria were used as feedstock for the production of pyrolysis oil. The sawdust was air-dried to eliminate excess free water and prevent degradation by fungi. The samples were later oven dried at a temperature of