Investigation of morphology, structure and composition of biomass-oil soot particles

Biomass-oil soot (BS) particles were characterized by a range of analytical techniques. A comparative analysis with commercial carbon black (CB), a surrogate for diesel soot particles, was carried out. The experimental results showed that the morphologies of BS and CB particles were both spherical, with average diameters of 50 and 40 nm, respectively. There were only a few differences between the elemental composition of BS and CB. The groups (Cdouble bond; length as m-dashO, Osingle bondCsingle bondO and Csingle bondOsingle bondC) were presented on the surfaces of CB and BS. Moreover, it was also found that Csingle bondOH group was appeared on the surface of BS. BS contained more acidic and basic sites than CB, which was ascribed to the complex mixtures of biomass oil. Both BS and CB had virtually indistinguishable perturbed graphitic or turbostratic internal structures. Thus, CB can be a potential alternative to evaluate the aggregation and tribological behavior of BS in lubricating oils.