Thermochemical and pyrolytic analyses of <i>Musa</i> spp. residues from the rainforest belt of Nigeria

Abstract

Four different morphological plant parts of Musa spp. (banana and plantain) residues obtained from the rainforest belt of Nigeria were investigated. The study undertook Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and physicochemical analysis. The total crystallinity (TCI) and lateral order (LOI) indices showed that the cellulose crystallinity for banana pseudo‐stem (LOI‐5.18; TCI‐0.37) and banana rachis (LOI‐4.25; TCI‐0.44) were relatively higher than for the banana (LOI‐0.11; TCI‐0.20) and plantain (LOI‐0.17; TCI‐0.18) peels. The XRD analysis confirmed the presence of starch in the peels and cellulose I in the structural samples (rachis and the pseudo‐stem). A further demonstration of the marked differences between the morphological parts of Musa spp was highlighted in the analysis of the FAMES extract as banana peels (21 mg g −1 of biomass) and plantain peels (20 mg g −1 of biomass) had the highest quantity of palmitic acids whereas the eicosanoic, behnic, and lignoceric acids were absent in the peels. The relatively high ash content (≤12.30 wt %) in the Musa spp. samples may necessitate a pretreatment process prior to deployment for bioenergy or chemical extraction purposes. Furthermore, kinetic studies, which involved differential Friedman's and integral Flynn–Wall–Ozawa techniques, and analytical pyrolysis of the residues were undertaken. The activation energy varied continuously with conversion; reaching a peak of &gt;290 kJ/mol. The analytical pyrolysis detected acids, sugar derivatives, and phenolic compounds in significant concentrations for all biomass samples. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 1901–1907, 2018