New Strategies for Sustainable Biofuel Production: Pyrolytic Poly-Generation of Biomass

Fanbin Meng () and Donghai Wang
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Fanbin Meng: College of Resource and Environment, Anhui Science and Technology University, Fengyang 233100, China
Donghai Wang: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Biomass serves as a promising renewable and sustainable feedstock for energy production through thermochemical conversion. It can be transformed into sustainable biofuels by means of pyrolysis. Among these methods, the pyrolytic poly-generation of biomass, a novel biomass thermal conversion technology, can concurrently produce three valuable products, namely biochar, bio-oil, and combustible gas, without generating any byproducts. In contrast, conventional thermal conversion processes, such as carbonization for biochar, liquefaction for bio-oil, gasification for syngas, and combustion for heat, only yield single products, have limited efficiency, and give rise to byproducts. Clearly, pyrolytic poly-generation holds significant advantages over conventional thermal conversion processes. Nevertheless, the pyrolytic poly-generation process and its products are remarkably influenced by numerous factors, including the raw biomass properties, pretreatment methods, operating parameters, and catalysts. This article reviews the processing parameters and technology for biomass pyrolytic poly-generation, and also explores future research areas, with the aim of identifying research gaps and promoting its industrial implementation.

Keywords: biomass; sustainable biofuels; pretreatment; pyrolytic poly-generation; catalyst (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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