applsci-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

The Pyrolysis of Biomass: Reaction Mechanism and Product Application

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Biosciences and Bioengineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2025 | Viewed by 8201

Special Issue Editors

School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: pyrolysis of biomass and waste; industrial thermalchemical process modelling; life cycle assessment for biomass system; techno-economic analysis for bioeconomy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Key Lab. of Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, China
Interests: biobased activated carbon; advanced carbon materials; carbon based energy material

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China
Interests: biomass thermal conversion; seaweeds valorization; solid waste incineration; density function theoretic calculation; carbon neutralization and mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Brinellvägen 23, 114 28 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: thermal conversion; catalytic pyrolysis; kinetics and thermodynamics; biochar; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global warming is threatening human beings and all of the other species on Earth. Tremendous research was carried out on carbon neutralization and mitigation. The essential and critical topic is how the dependence on fossil resources can be reduced. Biomass is the only renewable carbon source that has the potential to substitute fossil fuels.

Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition process, which converts biomass into three phases of solid, liquid, and gas in the absence of oxygen. The solid product, biochar, is proven to have potential as a soil amendment, battery material, and absorbent. Pyrolysis liquid product is one of the most promising sustainable alternatives to gasoline and diesel. The gas product, abundant in methane and hydrogen gas, can be further upgraded to gas fuel or platform chemicals. With this Special Issue, we hope to concentrate on the pyrolysis of biomass, including its mechanisms and applications, and collect experiences and perspectives from various aspects of biomass pyrolysis.

This Special Issue will publish high-quality original research papers in the overlapping fields of:

  • Kinetic and thermodynamic study of the pyrolysis of biomass;
  • The catalytic pyrolysis of biomass;
  • Preatment for the pyrolysis of biomass;
  • The recycling and utilization of waste biomass such as sludge, municipal solid waste, agricultural residues, and digestate through pyrolysis;
  • Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning assist in revealing the fate of biomass pyrolysis;
  • Biomass pyrolysis process design, simulation, economic evaluation, and environmental impact analysis;
  • Pyrolysis product application in multiple aspects;
  • Other relevant topics on biomass pyrolysis.

Dr. Shule Wang
Prof. Dr. Kang Sun
Prof. Dr. Shuang Wang
Dr. Yuming Wen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomass
  • pyrolysis
  • biochar
  • biofuel

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 3744 KiB  
Article
Influence of Hydrothermal Carbonization on Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Agricultural Biomass
by Lukasz Niedzwiecki, Krzysztof Moscicki, Anton Bijl, Pawel Owczarek, Amit Arora, Mateusz Wnukowski, Christian Aragon-Briceno, Vishwajeet, Halina Pawlak-Kruczek, Eddy Bramer, Gerrit Brem and Artur Pozarlik
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(7), 4190; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13074190 - 25 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2043
Abstract
Fast pyrolysis has been a subject of intensive research thanks to its ability to produce high yields of liquid products, known as pyrolysis oil. This is an important renewable intermediate which could be used for the subsequent production of fuels and chemicals. For [...] Read more.
Fast pyrolysis has been a subject of intensive research thanks to its ability to produce high yields of liquid products, known as pyrolysis oil. This is an important renewable intermediate which could be used for the subsequent production of fuels and chemicals. For fossil-based materials, pyrolysis oil can provide circular building blocks. Furthermore, direct use of pyrolysis oil in gas turbines has also been proven feasible. However, a relatively high oxygen content in raw biomass has detrimental effects on the quality of such oil. This work proposes hydrothermal carbonization as a valorization technique, beneficial from the point of view of subsequent fast pyrolysis. Within the scope of this work, the influence of the parameters of hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) on the kinetics of fast pyrolysis of agricultural biomass (miskanthus), as well as the influence of in situ use of a CaO catalyst, is investigated. Kinetics is investigated using a novel type of thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) called Cyclonic TGA, which is able to achieve heating rates similar to a real fast pyrolysis process. Moreover, the influence of HTC on the removal of part of its inorganic constituents is determined within the scope of this work. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Pyrolysis of Biomass: Reaction Mechanism and Product Application)
Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 10349 KiB  
Article
Efficient Fractionation of Green Bamboo Using an Integrated Hydrothermal–Deep Eutectic Solvent Pretreatment for Its Valorization
by Longjun Chang, Ruya Ye, Jialing Song, Yinuo Xie, Qizhen Chen, Sien Yan, Kang Sun and Linhuo Gan
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 2429; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13042429 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1902
Abstract
Adopting an integrated strategy to realize efficient fractionation of lignocellulose into well-defined components for its valorization is challenging. Combinatorial pretreatments in this study decomposed hemicellulose of green bamboo during hydrothermal pretreatment (HP), and the hydrothermally pretreated bamboo was subsequently subjected to delignification using [...] Read more.
Adopting an integrated strategy to realize efficient fractionation of lignocellulose into well-defined components for its valorization is challenging. Combinatorial pretreatments in this study decomposed hemicellulose of green bamboo during hydrothermal pretreatment (HP), and the hydrothermally pretreated bamboo was subsequently subjected to delignification using deep eutectic solvent (DES) consisting of choline chloride and lactic acid, finally facilitating enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose residue. Upon hydrothermal treatment at 180 °C for 35 min, hemicellulose removal of 88.6% was achieved with xylo-oligosaccharide yield and purity of 50.9% and 81.6%, respectively. After DES treatment at 140 °C for 2 h, lignin removal was determined to be 79.1%. Notably, the regenerated lignin with high purity of 96.8% displayed superior antioxidant activity, and the decrease in the ratio of syringyl units to guaiacyl units led to a slight decrease in radical scavenging activity of lignin after five recycling runs of DES. Moreover, the two-step treated residue had much higher enzymatic digestibility than that of single HP residue and untreated green bamboo. Results show that synergistic pretreatment is a promising strategy to tackle the recalcitrance of lignocellulose towards high value-added utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Pyrolysis of Biomass: Reaction Mechanism and Product Application)
Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 6290 KiB  
Article
Combustion and Explosion Characteristics of Pulverised Wood, Valorized with Mild Pyrolysis in Pilot Scale Installation, Using the Modified ISO 1 m3 Dust Explosion Vessel
by Muhammad Azam Saeed, Lukasz Niedzwiecki, Muhammad Yousaf Arshad, Jan Skrinsky, Gordon E. Andrews and Herodotos N. Phylaktou
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(24), 12928; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122412928 - 16 Dec 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3216
Abstract
Biomass is a renewable energy source with great potential worldwide and in the European Union. However, valorization is necessary to turn many types of waste biomass into a tradable commodity that has the potential to replace coal in power plants without significant modifications [...] Read more.
Biomass is a renewable energy source with great potential worldwide and in the European Union. However, valorization is necessary to turn many types of waste biomass into a tradable commodity that has the potential to replace coal in power plants without significant modifications to firing systems. Mild pyrolysis, also known as torrefaction, is a thermal valorization process of low-quality biomass that could be suitable for such a purpose. In this work, typical Spruce-Pine-Fir residues from a sawmill were tested in terms of the explosion and flame propagation properties. The ISO 1 m3 dust explosion vessel was used, with a modified and calibrated dust dispersion system that could cope with very coarse particles. The deflagration index, Kst, was higher for the torrefied sample, with a peak at 36 bar m/s compared with 27 for the raw biomass. The peak flame speeds were similar for both samples, reaching 1 m/s. The peak Pmax/Pi was between 7.3 and 7.4 bar for both untreated and torrefied biomass. The mechanism for coarse particle combustion is considered to be influenced by the explosion-induced wind blowing the finer fractions ahead of the flame, which burns first, subsequently devolatilizing the coarser fractions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Pyrolysis of Biomass: Reaction Mechanism and Product Application)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop