This paper provides an updated review on fast pyrolysis of biomass for production of a liquid usually referred to as bio-oil. The technology of fast pyrolysis is described including the major reaction systems. The primary liquid product is characterised by reference to the many properties that impact on its use. These properties have caused increasingly extensive research to be undertaken to address properties that need modification and this area is reviewed in terms of physical, catalytic and chemical upgrading. Of particular note is the increasing diversity of methods and catalysts and particularly the complexity and sophistication of multi-functional catalyst systems. It is also important to see more companies involved in this technology area and increased take-up of evolving upgrading processes. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Review of fast pyrolysis of biomass and product upgrading

http://umu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:882304/FULLTEXT01

Pretreatment of lignocellulose: Formation of inhibitory by-products and strategies for minimizing their effects

Modeling chemical and physical processes of wood and biomass pyrolysis

Pyrolysis is one of the thermochemical technologies for converting biomass into energy and chemical products consisting of liquid bio-oil, solid biochar, and pyrolytic gas. Depending on the heating rate and residence time, biomass pyrolysis can be divided into three main categories slow (conventional), fast and flash pyrolysis mainly aiming at maximising either the bio-oil or biochar yields. Synthesis gas or hydrogen-rich gas can also be the target of biomass pyrolysis. Maximised gas rates can be achieved through the catalytic pyrolysis process, which is now increasingly being developed. Biomass pyrolysis generally follows a three-step mechanism comprising of dehydration, primary and secondary reactions. Dehydrogenation, depolymerisation, and fragmentation are the main competitive reactions during the primary decomposition of biomass. A number of parameters affect the biomass pyrolysis process, yields and properties of products. These include the biomass type, biomass pretreatment (physical, chemical, and biological), reaction atmosphere, temperature, heating rate and vapour residence time. This manuscript gives a general summary of the properties of the pyrolytic products and their analysis methods. Also provided are a review of the parameters that affect biomass pyrolysis and a summary of the state of industrial pyrolysis technologies.

Lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis: A review of product properties and effects of pyrolysis parameters

Currently, fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas represent the prime energy sources in the world. However, it is anticipated that these sources of energy will deplete within the next 40–50 years. Moreover, the expected environmental damages such as the global warming, acid rain and urban smog due to the production of emissions from these sources have tempted the world to try to reduce carbon emissions by 80% and shift towards utilizing a variety of renewable energy resources (RES) which are less environmentally harmful such as solar, wind, biomass etc. in a sustainable way. Biomass is one of the earliest sources of energy with very specific properties. In this review, several aspects which are associated with burning biomass in boilers have been investigated such as composition of biomass, estimating the higher heating value of biomass, comparison between biomass and other fuels, combustion of biomass, co-firing of biomass and coal, impacts of biomass, economic and social analysis of biomass, transportation of biomass, densification of biomass, problems of biomass and future of biomass. It has been found that utilizing biomass in boilers offers many economical, social and environmental benefits such as financial net saving, conservation of fossil fuel resources, job opportunities creation and CO 2 and NO x emissions reduction. However, care should be taken to other environmental impacts of biomass such as land and water resources, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and deforestation. Fouling, marketing, low heating value, storage and collections and handling are all associated problems when burning biomass in boilers. The future of biomass in boilers depends upon the development of the markets for fossil fuels and on policy decisions regarding the biomass market.

A review on biomass as a fuel for boilers

Biomass combustion in fluidized bed boilers: Potential problems and remedies

Thermogravimetry as a tool to classify waste components to be used for energy generation

Pyrolysis of Miscanthus Giganteus and wood pellets: TG-FTIR analysis and reaction kinetics☆

Biomass is one of the renewable and potentially sustainable energy sources and has many possible applications varying from heat generation to the production of advanced secondary energy carriers. The latter option would allow mobile services like the transportation sector to reduce its dependency on the fossil fuel supply. This article reviews the state-of-the-art of the fluidization technology applied for the gasification of biomass aimed at the production of gas for subsequent synthesis of the liquid energy carriers via, e.g., the Fischer-Tropsch process. It discusses the advantages of the gasification technology over combustion, considers the size of the conversion plant in view of the local biomass availability, assesses the pros and cons of different gasifier types in view of the application of the product gas. Subsequently the article focuses on the fluidized bed technology to discuss the main process parameters and their influence on the product composition and the operability of the gasifier. Finally a synthesis process (FT) is introduced shortly to illustrate the necessary gas cleaning steps in view of the purity requirements for the FT feed gas.

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Fluidized Bed Gasification as a Mature And Reliable Technology for the Production of Bio-Syngas and Applied in the Production of Liquid Transportation Fuels—A Review

W. de Jong

Papers

Biomass combustion in fluidized bed boilers: Potential problems and remedies

Thermogravimetry as a tool to classify waste components to be used for energy generation

Pyrolysis of Miscanthus Giganteus and wood pellets: TG-FTIR analysis and reaction kinetics☆

Fluidized Bed Gasification as a Mature And Reliable Technology for the Production of Bio-Syngas and Applied in the Production of Liquid Transportation Fuels—A Review

TG-FTIR pyrolysis of coal and secondary biomass fuels: Determination of pyrolysis kinetic parameters for main species and NOx precursors