Pyrolysis distillate or bio-oil, a by-product of biomasses’ slow pyrolysis in the char-making process, has been traditionally used as bio-pesticides by Asian farmers. Due to its large composition of bio-active chemicals, bio-oil obtained from various biomass has become of interest in many applications, including wood protectants. This study aims to characterize the chemical composition of bio-oil obtained from the slow pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse at the temperatures of 400 °C and 500 °C, along with the efficacy test against two Basidiomycete fungi (Coniophora puteana, a cubic rot, and Trametes versicolor, a fibrous rot) and subterranean termites (Reticulitermes flavipes). The test on wood was also conducted by impregnating the bio-oil to the beech wood samples. Treated samples were dried at various temperatures (ambient, 40°C, 60°C, 80°C and 103°C), and leached before being exposed to termites R. flavipes. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis revealed that bio-oil is composed mainly of oxygenated compounds such as carboxylic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, furans, and anhydrosugars. In contrast, about 40% of the bio-oil consisted of water. At the concentration of 0.25% (v/v), bio-oil were observed to be able to inhibit the growth of both Basidiomycete fungi, when performing inhibition growth tests in Petri dishes. Further, no termites survived when exposed to a filter paper with a 10% concentration of bio-oil. All the wood samples have been shown durable against R. flavipes. However, bio-oil remains leachable from the wood, which indicates that future studies should be conducted in order to find out how to decrease its leachability.

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