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Recent Advances in Biomass Energy Torrefaction, Pyrolysis and Gasification Technologies

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2025 | Viewed by 1809

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz University of Technology, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
Interests: distributed energy systems using upgraded (torrefied, torrefied and pelletized) biomass for cogeneration units; additives for fertilizers and active carbon production as a core technology for novel; more sustainable energy and agriculture systems
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomass as a feedstock has huge potential to replace fossil fuels and it should reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Today, the world’s main problem is that CO2 emissions are rising every year, and in 2020, the atmospheric CO2 concentration was already higher than 410 ppm, which is beyond the safe global limits. This implies that the anthropogenic activity from fossil fuel combustion still plays an important role in energy consumption, even though great efforts have been made to generate power from solar and wind energy. Recently, bioenergy has become the fourth largest primary energy source after oil, coal, and natural gas, and is proven to be very advantageous. Biomass torrefaction is a thermochemical process (carbonization and roasting) that treats biomass at 200–350 ⁰C. It is carried out under atmospheric conditions and in the absence of oxygen. During the process, the water contained in the biomass as well as superfluous volatiles are removed, and the biopolymers (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) partly decompose, releasing various types of volatiles (i.e., torrefaction off-gas volatiles).

By using thermochemical conversion of biomass feedstocks, it is possible to upgrade biomass feedstocks through the use of different types of valorization techniques, such as the following:

  • Pyrolysis;
  • Dry torrefaction (oxidative or non-oxidative conditions);
  • Wet torrefaction (water and diluted acid);
  • Steam torrefaction;
  • Gasification.

The torrefaction process can be categorized and group into dry and wet torrefaction; it can be also divided into oxidative torrefaction and non-oxidative torrefaction. In the last 20 years, a great number of different torrefaction methods have been investigated and developed. Non-oxidative torrefaction, commonly termed torrefaction, has been shown to have a greater potential for commercial applications and industrial applications compared to other methods.

This Special Issue will focus on different biomass torrefaction processes and their applications in low-carbon demand industries for the production of carbonized solid biofuels, biochar as an additive for organize fertilizers, biosorbents’ production for chemical industry, and thermochemical process production. This Special Issue will also address torrefaction process upgrades to obtain new bioproducts for special (functional applications) purposes, for example, activated carbon for deodorization in biogas plants. We therefore invite papers exploring biomass torrefaction process technology, bioproduct production for different industrial applications, torrefaction process kinetics modeling, reviews, industrial demo examples, case study scenarios, and LCA analysis of biomass torrefaction plants. Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Biomass torrefaction technologies;
  • Biomass torrefaction modeling: lab-scale, semi-industrial-scale and full-scale scenarios;
  • Kinetics of biomass torrefaction processes;
  • Techno-economical assessments of biomass torrefaction plants;
  • Emission problems related to biomass torrefaction product storage;
  • Safety aspects of biomass torrefaction processes in semi-industrial and industrial-scale scenarios;
  • Environmental evaluation of biomass torrefaction processes;
  • Optimization of biofuel production processes;
  • Impacts of raw material processing on product parameters;
  • LCA and SLCA analysis of biomass torrefaction plants.

Dr. Szymon Szufa
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • pyrolysis
  • pyrolysis oil
  • dry torrefaction
  • wet torrefaction
  • steam torrefaction
  • biofuels
  • biochar
  • gasification
  • synthesis of gas
  • byproducts

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 901 KiB  
Article
Tuning the Activity of NbOPO4 with NiO for the Selective Conversion of Cyclohexanone as a Model Intermediate of Lignin Pyrolysis Bio-Oils
by Abarasi Hart and Jude A. Onwudili
Energies 2025, 18(15), 4106; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18154106 (registering DOI) - 2 Aug 2025
Abstract
Catalytic upgrading of pyrolysis oils is an important step for producing replacement hydrocarbon-rich liquid biofuels from biomass and can help to advance pyrolysis technology. Catalysts play a pivotal role in influencing the selectivity of chemical reactions leading to the formation of main compounds [...] Read more.
Catalytic upgrading of pyrolysis oils is an important step for producing replacement hydrocarbon-rich liquid biofuels from biomass and can help to advance pyrolysis technology. Catalysts play a pivotal role in influencing the selectivity of chemical reactions leading to the formation of main compounds in the final upgraded liquid products. The present work involved a systematic study of solvent-free catalytic reactions of cyclohexanone in the presence of hydrogen gas at 160 °C for 3 h in a batch reactor. Cyclohexanone can be produced from biomass through the selective hydrogenation of lignin-derived phenolics. Three types of catalysts comprising undoped NbOPO4, 10 wt% NiO/NbOPO4, and 30 wt% NiO/NbOPO4 were studied. Undoped NbOPO4 promoted both aldol condensation and the dehydration of cyclohexanol, producing fused ring aromatic hydrocarbons and hard char. With 30 wt% NiO/NbOPO4, extensive competitive hydrogenation of cyclohexanone to cyclohexanol was observed, along with the formation of C6 cyclic hydrocarbons. When compared to NbOPO4 and 30 wt% NiO/NbOPO4, the use of 10 wt% NiO/NbOPO4 produced superior selectivity towards bi-cycloalkanones (i.e., C12) at cyclohexanone conversion of 66.8 ± 1.82%. Overall, the 10 wt% NiO/NbOPO4 catalyst exhibited the best performance towards the production of precursor compounds that can be further hydrodeoxygenated into energy-dense aviation fuel hydrocarbons. Hence, the presence and loading of NiO was able to tune the activity and selectivity of NbOPO4, thereby influencing the final products obtained from the same cyclohexanone feedstock. This study underscores the potential of lignin-derived pyrolysis oils as important renewable feedstocks for producing replacement hydrocarbon solvents or feedstocks and high-density sustainable liquid hydrocarbon fuels via sequential and selective catalytic upgrading. Full article
23 pages, 3079 KiB  
Article
European Green Deal: Substantiation of the Rational Configuration of the Bioenergy Production System from Organic Waste
by Inna Tryhuba, Anatoliy Tryhuba, Taras Hutsol, Szymon Szufa, Szymon Glowacki, Oleh Andrushkiv, Roman Padyuka, Oleksandr Faichuk and Nataliia Slavina
Energies 2024, 17(17), 4513; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17174513 - 9 Sep 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1079
Abstract
A review of the current state of the theory and practice of bioenergy production from waste allowed us to identify the scientific and applied problem of substantiating the rational configuration of a modular anaerobic bioenergy system, taking into account the volume of organic [...] Read more.
A review of the current state of the theory and practice of bioenergy production from waste allowed us to identify the scientific and applied problem of substantiating the rational configuration of a modular anaerobic bioenergy system, taking into account the volume of organic waste generated in settlements. To solve this problem, this paper develops an approach and an algorithm for matching the configuration of a modular anaerobic bioenergy production system with the amount of organic waste generated in residential areas. Unlike the existing tools, this takes into account the peculiarities of residential areas, which is the basis for accurate forecasting of organic waste generation and, accordingly, determining the configuration of the bioenergy production system. In addition, for each of the scenarios, the anaerobic digestion process is modeled, which allows us to determine the functional indicators that underlie the determination of a rational configuration in terms of cost and environmental performance. Based on the use of the developed tools for the production conditions of the Golosko residential area, Lviv (Ukraine), possible scenarios for the installation of modular anaerobic bioenergy production systems are substantiated. It was found that the greatest annual benefits are obtained from the processing of mixed food and yard waste. The payback period of investments in modular anaerobic bioenergy production systems for given conditions of a residential area largely depends on their configuration and ranges from 3.3 to 8.4 years, which differ from each other by 2.5 times. This indicates that the developed toolkit is of practical value, as it allows the coordination of the rational configuration of modular anaerobic bioenergy production systems with real production conditions. In the future, it is recommended to use the proposed decision support system to model the use of biomass as an energy resource in residential areas, which ensures the determination of the rational configuration of a modular anaerobic bioenergy production system for given conditions. Full article
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