Fast pyrolysis of pinewood sawdust and two of its major components, namely lignin and cellulose was carried out using a laboratory scale induction-heating reactor. The effect of five different temperatures (500°, 550°, 600°, 650° and 700 °C) was tested on the product yield and quality. The products were characterized to evaluate the water content, elemental composition, chemical composition and energy content. The char yield decreased with temperature for all of the biomasses. The maximum liquid yield of 55.28% was achieved at 600 °C for pine sawdust, and the highest liquid yields for cellulose and lignin were obtained at 500 °C. Water content in the liquid fraction decreased as reaction temperature increased. The GC-MS revealed that the bio-oil from cellulose was rich in anhydrosugars while majority of the liquid from lignin had high phenolic contents. Analysis of the gas fraction shows that as the temperature increases the gas yield increases, which, when paired with the declining char masses, showed an increase in the biomass breakdown at higher temperatures. Liquid fraction from pine sawdust has the highest HHV with a peak at 550 °C.

1Upgrading of pyrolysis bio-oil is an important process for obtaining stable, high quality bio-oil. 2Rapid and uniform heating of both biomass and catalyst bed plays an important role in the 3 product quality and in the overall process efficiency. Induction heating offers numerous 4 advantages over conventional heating methods; rapid, efficient heating and precise temperature 5 control. In this study, an advanced induction heating technology was tested for pyrolysis as well 6 as catalyst bed heating. Three different catalyst to biomass ratios were studied (1:1, 1.5:1, and 7 2:1 weight basis), and the effect of catalyst bed temperature (290ºC, 330ºC and 370°C) was also 8 investigated. The results were compared with conventionally heated catalyst bed reactor. Higher 9 quality bio-oil was obtained with induction heating reactor with increased yield of aromatic 10 hydrocarbons and reduced oxygen content compared to conventional heating. Inductively heated 11 catalyst was also observed to have lower carbon deposition after reaction compared to 12 conventionally heated catalyst. Higher BET surface area was available post reaction for 13 inductively heated catalyst. This observation could be attributed to higher thermal gradients in 14 conventional reactor that causes condensation of molecules on catalyst surface with cooler 15 temperatures, effects that are less pronounced for the inductively heated catalyst. 16

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(3)Understanding an urban forest's structure, function, and value can promote management decisions that will improve environmental quality and human health. Using i-Tree Eco software and its sampling and data collection protocol, an assessment of the baseline condition, ecological function, and value of the urban forests in Scotlandville (Louisiana, USA) was conducted during 2014. A stratified (by land use type) random sample plot map of the town was generated. Data from 170 field plots located throughout Scotlandville were collected, including tree species, diameter at breast height, total tree height, height to live top, height to crown base, crown width, crown dieback, crown light exposure, percent impervious surface under the tree, and direction and distance to building. Data were then entered into i-Tree Eco v5.0 and analyzed. Modeling results indicated that there are a total of 31 species and an estimated 239,000 trees in Scotlandville with a tree canopy cover of 23.7 percent; the three most common species are Black willow (Salix nigra), Water oak (Quercus nigra), and American elm (Ulmus americana); the overall tree density is 77 trees per hectare and trees with diameters of more than 15 cm (6 inches) constitute 56.5% of the population. The model estimated that annually, the urban forests in Scotlandville remove 96 tons of air pollutants; gross sequestration is about 3,880 tons of carbon and net carbon sequestration is about 3,650 tons. Each year, trees in Scotlandville are estimated to store 88,700 tons of carbon, produce 9,720 tons of oxygen, reduce runoff by 121,200 m 3 , reduce energy-related costs by $324,000 USD, and provide an additional $52,595 in value by reducing the amount of carbon released by power plants (a reduction of 739 tons of carbon emissions). The structural value for Scotlandville community forest is estimated at $185 million and the annual ecological functional value is estimated at 9 million USD. These results provide baseline information for management recommendations to maximize the ecological benefits provided by trees.

The study aimed to assess the potential of using Remote Sensing (RS) data to evaluate the changes of urban green spaces in Lagos, Nigeria. Landsat Thematic Mapper and Landsat 8 (Operational Land Imager) data pair of May 4, 1986, December 12, 2002 and January 1, 2019 covering Lagos Government Authority (LGA) were used for this study. Supervised image classification technique using Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) was used to create base map which was then used for ground truthing. Random Forest (RF) classification technique using RF classifier was utilized in this study to generate the final land use land cover map. RF is an ensemble learning method for classification that operates by constructing a multitude of decision trees at training time and outputting the class that is the mode of the classes (classification). Lagos census population data was also used in this study to model population projection. Extrapolation of the model was used to predict data for the years, 2020 and 2040. Results of the study revealed a reduction of urban green spaces due to agriculture and settlement. While the remote mapping revealed the gradual dispersion of ecosystem degradation indicators spread across the state, there exists clusters of areas vulnerable to environmental hazards across Lagos. To mitigate these risks, the paper offered recommendations ranging from the need for effective policy to green planning education for city managers, developers and risk assessment.