Fuelwood characteristics of selected indigenous tree species from central India

Fuelwood characteristics of selected indigenous tree species from central India

BIORfSOURG TfMlO1OCiY Bioresource Technology 68 (1999) 305-308 Short communication Fuelwood characteristics of selected indigenous tree species fro...

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BIORfSOURG TfMlO1OCiY Bioresource Technology 68 (1999) 305-308

Short communication

Fuelwood characteristics

of selected indigenous tree species from central India

R.K. Jain”,

Bajrang

Singh

NationalBotanicalResearch Institute,Lucknow-

001, (L!P), India

Received 7 April 1YY7;revised 25 September 1998; accepted 25 September 1998

Abstract Thirty tree species indigenously growing in their natural habital in subtropical forest of central India were collected and fuelwood properties viz. moisture, silica. ash, density, carbon, nitrogen, volatile matter. calorific value and fuel value index (FVI) calculated to screen desirable species for potential production of fuelwood in these arcas. The present study revealed that Acer oblongurn, Betula alonoides, Greviilea robusta, Limonia acid&ma, Lyonia oval
Fuelwood characteristics;

Indigenous species; Subtropical forest trees; Central India

1. Introduction Fuelwood is the fourth largest source of energy used for meeting 80% of the cooking energy needs in India. The availability of fuelwood from the forest is continually declining at an ever increasing rate due to indiscriminate dcforcstation and slow regeneration, as well as afforestation. According to official forestry figures the area under forest is approximately 75 million ha of which no more than 30-32m ha is considered to have optimum tree cover. The rate of depletion of forests is nearly 1.5 m ha per annum. At this rate of deforestation, the remaining forest resources are expected to rapidly become exhausted if the plantation programmes are not intensified. According to the fuelwood committee report of the planning commission (Anon.. 1984) and central forestry commission (Anon., 1992) the fuelwood demand in 1984 was 133 mt which exceeded 202 mt by 1990 and is projected by the year 2000 to be nearly 225 mt. Conversely, availability was estimated at 4.5 mt in 1990. Thus the gap between demand and availability could be alleviated by increasing the supply of better fuelwood quality resources.

*Corresponding author.

This combination of ecological degradation and scarcity of fuelwood, resulting in indiscriminate felling of forest, requires immediate attention for afforestation of suitable species on wastelands. In this study an attempt has been made to identify the suitable species from forest flora of central India.

2. Methods Thirty tree species, lo-15 yr of age, were sampled from the subtropical forests of central India. These forests are situated between latitude 21”52” and 24”35”N and longitude 79”18” and 89”4O”E. The entire area is hilly and rocky and ranges from 292 to 750 mean sea level (msl). A few dominant tree species were selected whose wood is generally used as a major source of domestic fuel in these areas. The first branch of 6-8 cm diameter was harvested and from this branch three discs of 1 cm thickness and 4 cm diameter were sampled from the mid portion for wood characteristics. Moisture content was determined by drying the wood at 80°C to constant weight. Density was determined by weight loss of a 1 cm thick disc under glyccrinc. Part of the sample was ground to pass through a 0.2 mm sieve and about 1 g of ground material was pelleted and burnt in a Parr Oxygen

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306

R.K. Juin, B. SinghlBioresource Technology 68 (1999) 305-308

Bomb Calorimeter (Parr Instrument Company, Illinois, USA) [for determination of calorific value see Parr (1968)]. The calorific value of the sample was adjusted for ash content. Ash was determined by burning 2 g of ground sample in a muffle furnace at 550°C for 4-6 h. Total organic carbon was determined by the Tyurin method (Browning, 1973) using potassium dichromate and sulphuric acid as oxidizing agents and titrating against Mohr’s salt (NaCl). Nitrogen was determined using a Kjeltec Auto-1030 analyser imported from Sweden. Volatile matter was calculated on the basis of moisture, carbon and ash content. Fuel Value Index (FVI) was calculated as described by Purohit and Nautiyal (1987) where, FVI =

Calorific value kJ g-l x density g cmm3 Ash content

g g-’ x water content

g gg’

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was on the variations of 30 species. The mean and least significant difference (LSD) were determined for each value. Linear corrclations between major characteristics and FVI were not found to be significant.

3. Results and discussion The qualitative analysis of indigenous hardwood species such as Acer oblongurn (33.90%), Grevillea robusta (32.53%) Pyrus pashiu (25.37%), Quercus Zanginosa (34.02%) yielded lower moisture content than the mean (41.30%) of 30 species. However, other species listed in Table 1 arc close to the overall average of moisture for all species except Dillenia pentagyna (48.60%) Limonia acidissima (48.90%), Schrebera swietenioides (56.95%), Shorea robusta (4X.XOY0), Terminalia bellirica (49.23%) and Terminaiia tomentosa (50.00%) which contain a higher moisture than the average (P
high amounts of silica and carbon it increases the duration of the fuelwood combustion period (Singh, 1984). Most of the species have optimum carbon content whereas some of the species are highly such as Acer oblongurn (1.4%) Miliusu siliceous, vehttinu (1.2%) Quercus Zunginosa (1.2%) and Sapindus Zuurifolius (1.7%). The mean calorific values of the species on ash free dry-weight basis were between 15.29 and 25.56 kJ g-’ (Table I). With the exception of A/anus nepalensis all species are within the range of values reported by Neenan and Steinbeck (1979) Sajdak et al. (1981) Singh et al. (1982) and Jain (1992)Jain (1994). The heat of combustion of wood dcpcnds upon the genetic character of the species and chemical composition of the wood. The species which had a high amount of volatile matter, resin, wax and lignin had greater energy content (Howard, 1973; Koch, 1972; Harder and Einspahr, 1976). The volatile material in these species ranged from 11.30 to 45.18%. Nitrogen content of the wood samples was reasonable except for Pongamia glabra (0.917%). Consequently, emission of nitrous oxide would be low and potentially would not cause appreciable health hazards and environmental pollution. The FVI is an important characteristic for screening desirable fuclwood species (Purohit and Nautiyal, 1987; Jain, 1993). On the basis of FVI and other fuelwood properties it is concluded that tree species such as Acer oblongurn, Bet& alonvides, Grevilleu rvbustu, Limoniu acidissimu, Lyvniu ovalifoliu, Mudhucu indicu, Meliu uzeduruch, Morindu tinctotia, Myrica sapidu, Pranus comuta, Pyrus pashia, Quercus langinosu, Rhamnus triqueter and Stereospermum xylocurpum possess better fuelwood qualities. These species could be selected for intensive culture on marginal wastelands in central India to meet the firewood demand.

Acknowledgements The author is grateful to Dr P.V. Sane, Director, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow for providing the necessary facilities and the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources, Govt. of India for providing Indo-US-Aid project at NBRI. Thanks are due to the forest staff of Madhya Pradesh for providing material for this investigation. The assistance of Mr Moti Lal, Laboratory Technician, in processing and analysis of samples is acknowledged.

References Anon., 1984. Commission

Forest Report,

arca facts Government

and fallacies. of India.

Central

Forestry

characteristics

Each value is an average

of three determinations.

Aceraceae Hippocastanaceae Betulaceae Betulaceae Urticaceae Dilleniaceae Myrtaceae Porteaceae Ulmaceae Rutaceae Eriaceae Sapotaceae Meliaceae Anonaceae Rubiaceae Myricaceae Leguminosae Rosaceae Rosaceae Cupliferae Rhamnaceae Sapindaceae Oleaceae Dipterocarpaceae Ribiaccae Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae Combretaceae Combretaceae Combretaceae Meal1 ISD

Family

of tree species from cerltral hldia

Acer oblongurn Wall ex D. C. Aesculus indica (Wallex comb) Hook. F. Alanus ,tepalensis D. Don. Betula alonoides Buch-Ham. Roehmeria scahrella Gaud. Uillenia pentagyna Roxb. Garuga arboren Roxb. Grevillea robusta R. Br. Holoptelea integrifblia (Roxb) planch. Limonia acidissima Linn. Lyonia ovalifolia (Wall) Drude. Madhuca indica J.F Gmelin. Mel& azedarach Linn. Miliusa velutina (Dunal) I. Hook and Th. Morinda tinctoti Roxb. Mynca sapida Wall. Pongamia glabra Vent. Pwzus comuta (Royle) Stend. Pyres pashuz Buch -Ham. Quvrcus lunginosu D. Don Rhamnus triprter Wall. Sapindus lawifolins Vahl. Schrebera swietenioides Roxb. Shorea robuta Gaertn. Stephyeana parviflora Korth. Stereospemwn chclenoides D.C. Stereospemwm qlocarpum Benth wight. Terminalia bellirica Roxb. Terminalia chehula (Gaerth) Retz. Terminalia tomentosa (D.C) W and A.

Species

Table 1 Fuelwood

33.90 41.43 37.41 38.79 36.58 48.60 36.90 32.53 45.17 48.90 38.72 45.06 36.85 39.84 37.07 37.76 46.95 36.44 25.37 34.02 36.06 46.09 56.95 48.80 43.86 44.30 44.94 49.23 40.73 50.00 1.30 2.05

Moisture%

24.87 18.60 15.13 19.65 20.74 18.25 18.22 19.46 21.18 17.13 18.05 24.87 20.96 18.95 23.41 18.31 19.14 22.06 19.50 3.62 22.72 19.99 16.82 16.91 18.74 19.31 19.65 18.48 22.76 17.10 19.65 0.35

On dry weight basis

value

25.32 19.19 15.29 19.89 20.97 18.30 19.12 19.86 21.74 17.92 18.26 25.56 21.19 19.57 24.82 18.58 19.91 22.30 19.77 24.20 23.13 20.56 17.52 17.24 19.16 19.54 19.20 18.97 23.46 17.53 20.26 0.37

On ash free dry weight basis

Calorific

1.8 3.1 1.1 1.2 2.0 1.3 4.7 2.0 2.6 1.1 1.2 1.7 1.1 3.2 2.0 1.5 3.9 1.5 1.4 2.4 1.8 2.8 4.0 1.9 2.2 1.2 2.9 2.6 3.0 2.5 2.3 0.62

(%)

(g cm-‘)

0.70 0.46 0.46 0.56 0.68 0.59 0.54 0.69 0.68 0.90 0.52 0.67 0.52 0.73 0.70 0.79 0.56 0.66 0.83 0.80 0.80 0.61 0.66 0.68 0.74 0.60 0.5x 0.64 0.78 0.67 0.66 0.09

Ash

Density

1.40 1.10 0.60 0.50 n.Sn 0.55 0.35 0.90 0.45 0.70 0.40 0.90 0.60 1.20 0.90 0.50 1.50 0.80 0.60 1.20 0.60 1.70 0.80 0.85 0.90 0.80 0.70 0.80 1.00 0.90 0.2 0.10

(%)

Silica

29.25 25.20 27.00 27.15 25.50 21.00 21.30 7.75 7.25 1.90 3.55 25.50 5.20 26.70 3.40 21.60 22.05 9.40 28.05 24.30 27.00 26.40 7.75 28.25 6.25 4.30 24.90 24.15 22.35 8.50 25.43 3.41

(%)

carbon

Fixed

55.55 32.25 90.90 83.33 50.00 76.92 21.27 50.00 38.40 90.90 83.33 58.82 90.90 31.25 50.00 66.66 25.64 66.66 71.42 41.66 55.55 35.71 25.00 52.63 45.45 83.33 34.48 38.46 33.33 40.00 53.98 -

ratio

Ash/biomass

0.580 0.253 0.423 0.332 0.443 0.781 0.448 0.200 0.465 0.294 0.414 0.467 0.216 0.611 0.334 0.508 0.917 0.221 0.262 0.227 0.175 0.604 0.214 0.391 0.243 0.312 0.405 0.317 0.347 0.210 0.387

(%I

Nitrogen

71.66 61.74 66.15 66.5 1 62.47 51.54 52.18 67.98 66.76 53.65 57.69 62.41 61.74 65.41 57.33 52.92 54.02 72.03 68.72 59.53 66.15 64.68 67.98 69.21 64.31 59.53 61.00 59.16 54.75 69.82 62.10 3.26

(%)

Total carbon

35.05 29.87 34.09 32.86 35.82 29.10 37.10 37.72 24.98 28.10 36.53 26.74 36.85 30.26 33.83 39.14 27.10 33.06 45.18 39.28 33.14 24.71 11.30 21.05 27.09 30.20 27.25 24.02 33.92 19.00 30.83 0.68

(%)

Volatile matter

2905 687 1709 2393 1949 1709 595 2106 1259 2998 2043 2236 2718 1117 2343 2591 608 2524 4620 2371 2850 971 508 1264 1475 2205 900 949 1498 940 1835 35

FVI

308

RX. Jain, B. Singh/Bioresource Technology 68 (1999) 305-308

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