The Swietenia macrophylla wood used for the study was sun dried for about 48 h, pulverized using a hammer mill and then sieved to a particle size of about 425μm using Wiley milling machine. The prepared materials were pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed pyrolysis reactor in the temperature range from 425 to 500 °C. The product yields were collected at an interval of 25 °C. The maximum yield of bio-oil was recorded as 69.5wt.% at the pyrolysis temperature of 450 °C. The physicochemical properties and compositions of the feed materials and produced bio-oil were measured in order to quantify their potential for bio-energy use and industrial applications. The properties specifically measured include density, moisture content, ash content, pH, refractive index, cetane index, elemental composition, viscosity, and heating values. The ultimate analysis of the product showed that the contents of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur were 50.2%, 42.6%, 6.6%, <0.4% and <0.06% respectively. The viscosity, density, pH, moisture content, API gravity, ash content, HHV and LHV of bio-oil produced were found to be 4.6 mm2/s, 0.951 g/ml, 5.64, 21.4wt.%, 19.29, 0.15wt%, 29.52 MJ/kg and 28.08 MJ/kg respectively. These values were found to be in the ranges of values reported in the literature for bio-oils produced from biomass. The produced bio-oil had the much needed organic compounds typical of other woody biomass employed in commercial bio-oil manufacture. These compounds were classified into several groups; organic acids, ketones, phenols, alcohols, and aldehydes. The main components identified in the bio-oil are the aromatic and aliphatic compounds as well as carboxyl groups. The GCMS analysis of the product indicated the presence of 24 compounds which are useful as industrial chemicals and flammable gases: they include alkanes, alkenes, phenols, hydrogen, and levoglucosan. This study on bio-oil has demonstrated that mahogany wood is a useful biomass for the much sort potential fossil fuel substitute and finds vast application in the biofuel industry.

This study focused on evaluation of energy values and performance of briquettes prepared from biomass wastes such as sawdust, rice husk and their composites using two binders (starch and clay) when fired in briquette stove. The briquettes produced are composed of locally sourced bio-wastes of uniform grain sizes (0.5 mm) and two binders in percentage composition of 90:10 which were sun-dried, prepared and compressed. Combustion-related properties (%volatile matter, % ash content, % fixed carbon and calorific value of raw materials) were determined for the sample materials (sawdust, rice husk and starch). Performance tests on 12 different briquettes which included water boiling time, burning time, ignition time, heating rate, fuel consumption rate and cooking efficiency test were carried out. The briquettes were subjected to energy evaluation tests using a bomb Calorimeter. The mean bulk densities of the briquettes produced from the different samples were determined. The test results show that the calorific value of mahogany sawdust, gmelina, oak, composite of mahogany/gmelina/oak, rice husk and gmelina/rice husk briquettes with binder starch were 4.516 kcal/g, 4.1487 kcal/g, 4.4312 kcal/g, 3.8614 kcal/g, 4.0531 kcal/g, 4.067 kcal/g respectively and with clay as binder were 1.9003 kcal/g, 1.5331 kcal/g, 1.8156 kcal/g, 1.2458 kcal/g, 1.4375 kcal/g, 1.4451 kcal/g respectively. The ignition time of 0.206 min, boiling time of 18.1 min, fuel consumption rate of 33.2 g/min and burning time of 42.21 min of mahogany briquette with starch binder is less than the values obtained for other briquettes while its cooking efficiency of 45.8% is greater than those of other briquettes. This therefore shows that it has better energy efficiency than other briquettes considered.

The development of automobile brake pad using locally sourced palm kernel fiber was carried out. Asbestos, a carcinogenic material, has been used for decades as a friction material. This development has thus prompted a couple of research efforts geared towards its replacement for brake pad manufacture. Palm kernel fiber was used as an alternative filler material in conjunction with various quantities of epoxy resin as the matrix. Three sets of compositions were made, and the resulting specimens subjected to physical and mechanical tests using standard materials, procedures, and equipment. The essence is to determine their suitability and hence possible performance in service. The result showed that sample C with 40% palm kernel fiber content having hardness, compressive strength, abrasion resistance, specific gravity, water absorption, and oil absorption of 178 MPa, 96.2 MPa, 1.67 mg/m, 1.8 g/cm³, 1.86%, and 0.89%, respectively, had an optimum performance rating. It was equally ascertained that increase in the filler content had the effect of increase in hardness, wear resistance, and specific gravity of the composite brake pad, while water and oil absorption got decreased when compared with results obtained by other researchers using conventional brake pads made of other friction materials including asbestos. This is an indicator that palm kernel fiber is a possible and effective retrofit for asbestos as a filler material in automotive brake pad manufacture.

Experimental analysis on the spray characteristics of a diesel engine injector nozzle fueled with Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) was carried out in this study. To achieve this, the fuel was characterized to determine its physicochemical properties, and an experimental set up was designed to visualize and capture the spray pattern of the fuel. The images obtained were processed and analysed using Image J software to determine the spray length, spray cone angle, spray area, spray volume, and spray velocity values of the fuel. Experimental results obtained agree with validation models and reveal that spray parameter values of RFO are higher than those of diesel fuel. The values of spray parameters of RFO such as 456mm spray length, 2.85mm Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) and the low spray cone angle of 12.69°, led to a higher spray volume causing the engine to run on a rich mixture after initial start-up conditions. This would create such challenges as reduction in power and clogging of injector nozzle tip due to an increase in carbon deposits. Regression models generated reveal that these challenges could be eliminated when the spray parameters run on optimal values of 256mm, 6.41cm2, 16.18cm3, 0.96 mm/s and 13.59° for the spray length, spray area, spray volume, spray velocity and the spray angle respectively. These optimal values were obtained when the engine fuel injection time was set to 500μs while running on fuel of viscosity 4.305 mPa.s and temperature of 48 °C.

Pyrolysis is becoming increasingly popular as a method of producing liquid yield from biomass. It has the potential to help build a sustainable renewable fuel market while simultaneously maintaining environmental sustainability. In the present study, cow hooves are pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed batch reactor to investigate product dispersion and determine optimal temperature parameters for optimizing pyrolysis oil yield. Temperature effects on the distribution, elemental content, and physical qualities of major pyrolysis products, such as pyrolysis oil and bio-char, are investigated. At a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C, the maximum pyrolysis oil production was found to be 50.50 wt%, with the amount of bio-char excluding the gas being 27.20 wt%. A CHNS analyzer, Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy are used to investigate the chemical composition of pyrolysis oil generated under optimal conditions. The fuel properties of the pyrolysis oil are also determined, and it was discovered that it has a favourable fire point, flash point, and pour point. The density of the pyrolysis oil was 1.03 kg/L, the viscosity was 10.2 cSt, and the heating value was 22.7 MJ/kg. The FTIR analysis of the pyrolysis oil reveals that it contains functional groups, such as alkene, carboxylic acid, alcohol, ether, and ketone. According to the GC-MS analysis, the principal components are ester (40%), fatty acids (31%), phenol (3.8%) and p-Cresol (2.9%). Unsaturated fatty acids are abundant in the pyrolysis oil from cow hooves, while saturated fatty acids are in short supply. According to the findings of this study, cow hoof pyrolysis oil has the potential to be used as a source of biodiesel.

The study on the effect of cane wood and palm kernel as filler materials on the compressive strength and density of an automobile brake pad has been done. The Central Composite Design tool of the Design Expert 8 software was used to design percentage composition of the test samples for 20 experimental runs. To ascertain how well the factors fit in the design, the lack of fit test was performed. The analysis of variance shows that the developed models are significant and quadratic, showing that both materials affect the responses. On optimization, optimal compressive strength and density of 107.3 MPa and 1.73 g/cm³ were obtained for the composition of 30% resin content, 21.329% palm kernel fibre content and 40% cane wood content. Thus, the combination of cane wood and palm kernel fibre as filler material for brake pad production will give an automobile brake pad with good compressive strength and density.