Brazil is a great manufacturer of Eucalyptus pulp and has experienced important improvements in the environmental management in the last decades. However, there are still opportunities for alternative uses of pulp mill residues, which may result in higher added value products. Qualitative and semi-quantitative characterizations of bio-oil composition of three pulp mill residues (Eucalyptus sawdust, digester residue and wastewater treatment sludge) were performed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometric detection (GC×GC/TOF-MS). The best pyrolysis conditions achieved for the digester residue were applied to the other residues and similar bio-oils were obtained for sawdust and digester residue, while sludge rendered a more complex pyrolysate. The advantages of GC×GC/TOF-MS for this specific application are presented, as well as the potential of bio-oil components for important industrial applications.
comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography; bio-oil; pyrolysis; pulp and paper residues; time-of-flight
