Environment, Development and Sustainability

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0200-5

REVIEW

Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

Tamer Y. A. Fahmy, et al. [full author details at the end of the article]

Received: 16 March 2018 / Accepted: 14 June 2018

© Springer Nature B.V. 2018

Abstract
Biomass pyrolysis is a promising renewable sustainable source of fuels and petrochemi-
cal substitutes. It may help in compensating the progressive consumption of fossil-fuel
reserves. The present article outlines biomass pyrolysis. Various types of biomass used for
pyrolysis are encompassed, e.g., wood, agricultural residues, sewage. Categories of pyroly-
sis are outlined, e.g., flash, fast, and slow. Emphasis is laid on current and future trends
in biomass pyrolysis, e.g., microwave pyrolysis, solar pyrolysis, plasma pyrolysis, hydro-
gen production via biomass pyrolysis, co-pyrolysis of biomass with synthetic polymers and
sewage, selective preparation of high-valued chemicals, pyrolysis of exotic biomass (cof-
fee grounds and cotton shells), comparison between algal and terrestrial biomass pyroly-
sis. Specific future prospects are investigated, e.g., preparation of supercapacitor biochar
materials by one-pot one-step pyrolysis of biomass with other ingredients, and fabricating
metallic catalysts embedded on biochar for removal of environmental contaminants. The
authors predict that combining solar pyrolysis with hydrogen production would be the eco-
friendliest and most energetically feasible process in the future. Since hydrogen is an ideal
clean fuel, this process may share in limiting climate changes due to ­CO2 emissions.
Graphical Abstract

Trever Barmore Eastern Regional Research Center: Wyndmoor, PA

Keywords Sustainable and renewable energy sources · Fossil-fuel alternatives · Biomass

pyrolysis · Biofuel (bio-oil, biogas, biochar) · Charcoal (activated carbon)

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1 Biomass definition

Biomass is an industrial term rather than a scientific term. Popularly, biomass is associated
with plant-based materials. However, the term biomass may extend to encompass any bio-
logically formed matter. The approximate amount of biomass available annually is virtually
105 billion metric tons of carbon per year. About half of this amount is produced on land.
The other half is formed in the ocean, e.g., algal biomass.
Up till now, wood is still the main source of biomass for various applications. Wood
source examples are forest trees and branches. Other sources of biomass include agricul-
tural residues, e.g., sugarcane bagasse, rice straw, cotton stalks, wheat straw. Even munici-
pal waste is considered biomass (Fahmy 1982; Fahmy et al. 1982; Mobarak et al. 1982;
Mobarak 1983; Fahmy et al. 2017; Jimenez et al. 2017).
Converting biomass into energy by normal burning (combustion) releases carbon emis-
sions and other pollutants. However, EU and UN legal regulations still consider it a renew-
able energy source. This is based on the fact that plant stocks are annually replaced by
newly grown crop.
Instead of converting biomass directly into energy by traditional combustion, it can be
converted to more clean fuels (biofuels). This conversion may be conducted through differ-
ent pathways, e.g., thermal, chemical, and biochemical pathways. These processes change
biomass properties to provide a much better fuel with less pollutive effect, e.g., converting
wood thermally into charcoal by pyrolysis (Field et al. 1998; Walker 2000), or converting
biomass chemically—by hydrolysis—to sugars, which may be fermented to give bioetha-
nol (Fahmy et al. 1975; El-Shinnawy et al. 1983).

2 Definition of pyrolysis and chemistry outlines (Östman and Rydholm

2002; König 2004; ISO 2002

In the absence of oxygen, at elevated temperatures, organic material undergoes thermo-

chemical decomposition. This process is called pyrolysis (destructive distillation). It is an
irreversible process, which leads to change in chemical composition and physical state of
organic matter. The word “pyrolysis” originates from Greek vocabulary. Pyro means “fire”
and lysis means “separating.”
Pyrolysis is in contrast to normal complete combustion of organic matter, in the pres-
ence of oxygen, which produces carbon dioxide and water.
Generally, pyrolysis of organic substances produces three phases of matter. It produces
gaseous products including carbon monoxide and hydrogen (industrially known as syn-
gas), methane, short hydrocarbon chain gases, and carbon dioxide. It also produces liquid
products (known industrially and economically as bio-oil and tars), including aliphatic and
aromatic compounds, phenols, aldehydes, and levoglucosan, hydroxyacetaldehyde, hydro-
carbon chains, and water. It is worth mentioning that tar is black or dark brown viscous
liquid. It is composed of hydrocarbons and free carbon. Bio-oil and tar are closely related.
However, bio-oil is composed of organic compounds of lower molecular weight than tar.
Thus, bio-oil is less viscous than tar. Bio-oil is more pure than tar. Crude bio-oil should be
purified to become commercial grade bio-oil. There is no stiff scientific definition of tars.
Some points of view consider tars as all pyrolysis products of molecular weight higher than
benzene (Kiel et al. 2004).

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

Moreover, pyrolysis produces solid residue rich in carbon (known popularly as char or
biochar). The solid phase may contain also some impurities, e.g., aromatic compounds.
Intensive pyrolysis, leads mainly to solid carbon residue, is called carbonization.
Although it is not the aim of this review to discuss the chemistry of pyrolysis, a hint
is given in this section. Chemistry outlines of lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis may be
summarized by a symbolic example, namely wood pyrolysis. Wood is the most famous
lignocellulosic material. Pyrolysis of wood usually starts at 200–300 °C. The cellulose pre-
sent in wood undergoes two chemical pathways at pyrolysis. The first pathway involves
breaking of the polymeric cellulose chain by breaking the bonds between glucose units
comprising cellulose. This pathway leads mainly to levoglucosan. The second chemical
pathway keeps the carbon chain intact and unbroken, leading mainly to aliphatic hydro-
carbon chains, in addition to carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and water. According to
Broido–Shafizadeh model, the second pathway is to generate char and gases. This model is
still a matter of question in the literature (Varhegyi et al. 1994).
The lignin present in wood decomposes at pyrolysis to give phenolic compounds in
bio-oil.
The hemicellulose building blocks (e.g., xylose, arabinose, and mannose) decompose to
give furfurals in bio-oil.

3 History of pyrolysis (when did research about pyrolysis start?)

Pyrolysis research may be traced back to ancient Egypt. It was used for production of tar
for sealing wooden boats against water and rot (Ringer et al. 2006).
Tar may be obtained by pyrolysis of coal, wood, and petroleum (Daintith 2013). In
Northern Europe and America, wood-derived tar contributed largely to the economy. Royal
Navy was the main user of tar, to preserve wooden ships. Appearance of iron and steel
ships decreased the demand for tar (Burger 2013).
Also, in ancient Egypt, many chemicals were harvested as by-products from pyrolysis,
e.g., acetic acid and methanol. Later, pyrolysis was used to manufacture charcoal (Ringer
et al. 2006).
Historically, the driving force for producing charcoal was its several advantages as a fuel
in comparison with wood. Burning the same amount of charcoal and wood, the amount of
heat produced from charcoal is twice that produced from wood. Burning charcoal is less
smoky than wood, because charcoal is mainly pure carbon. Burning this pure carbon pro-
duces carbon dioxide and water, without any other pollutive by-products. Charcoal is not
vulnerable to rotting as wood. Therefore, handling small amounts of charcoal is more con-
venient than handling larger amounts of wood to produce the same amount of heat. Char-
coal is also known as biochar.
The amount of heat released during combustion is measured in units of energy per unit
of the substance. Approximate values of heat produced from wood, charcoal, and several
other fuels are shown below: FUEL = kJ/g

• Dry wood = 19 kJ/g

• Coal (mineral of fossilized carbon) = 28–33 kJ/g
• Coke (made from coal is smokeless) = 28–30 kJ/g
• Charcoal (made from wood) = 29–30 kJ/g
• Kerosene = 46 kJ/g

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 T. Y. A. Fahmy et al.

3.1 Carbonization of wood leads to charcoal

This is performed by a process called charring. It is defined as incomplete combustion of

organic matter. Heat removes hydrogen and oxygen from the organic matter, so that the res-
idue is mainly carbon. Organic matter used for charring may include synthetic polymers,
wood, or biological tissues.
Carbonization is affected by temperature; according to J. Percy, browning of wood
appears at 220 °C, and then, it becomes deep brown-black at 280 °C. Starting from 300 °C,
low-grade charcoal is obtained and it is brown and soft and catches flame at 380 °C, while
high-grade charcoal, made at higher temperatures, is hard and brittle and does not catch
flame till 700 °C.
Burning high-grade charcoal leads to high temperatures, up to 2700 °C (Chisolm 1910).
Fossil coal is different from charcoal. Fossil coal is formed naturally as a mineral under
earth’s crust. It is formed out of decayed plant and animal matter by action of prolonged
heat and pressure. It is produced from coal mines.

3.2 Difference between charcoal and fossil coal

• Fossil coal is a naturally resulting fossil fuel, whereas charcoal is produced by burning
of wood or other organic matter in the absence of oxygen.
• Fossil coal is a mineral, while charcoal is not.
• It takes over millions of years to produce fossil coal, whereas charcoal is produced in
relatively short time.
• Charcoal produces more heat, and it is cleaner than fossil coal.

More recently, pyrolysis was used during the first and second World Wars for produc-
tion of alternative transportation fuel, from wood wastes, due to unavailability of fossil
fuels such as petroleum and coal. These biofuels were used to power trucks, buses, and
agricultural machines by 1945 (Östman and Rydholm 2002; König 2004; ISO 2002; Tiilik-
kala et al. 2010; Zhang et al. 2017b).

4 Main Categories of Pyrolysis (Chisolm 1910; Östman and Rydholm

2002; König 2004; ISO 2002; Tiilikkala et al. 2010)

Pyrolysis is usually categorized, industrially, into three main types, depending on time and
temperature of the process. However, there are no sharp borders separating these industrial
categorizations.

4.1 Slow pyrolysis

Slow pyrolysis is conducted along relatively long time that may reach several days. It is
usually performed at relatively low temperatures not exceeding 500 °C and slow heating
rates, from 0.1 to 2 °C per second. Char and tar represent the major products in slow pyrol-
ysis, because long residence time of gases and other pyrolysis products, in the pyrolytic

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

converter, allows repolymerization/recombination reactions to take place. However, the

type of biomass is, also, an important factor for determining the ratios of char, tar, and gas
produced.
New industrial examples of slow pyrolysis concentrate on biochar production, while
also making use of the produced bio-oil and biogas as an energy source for pyrolysis.
Moreover, valuable chemicals are harvested from the slow pyrolysis, e.g., acetone, metha-
nol, and acetic acid (Jonsson 2016).

4.2 Flash pyrolysis

Fast heating rates may reach 2500 °C per second. The whole process may be finished in
time ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 s. Moderate temperatures ranging from 400 to 600 °C may
reach 1000 °C and characterize flash pyrolysis. The major component, in flash pyrolysis
products, is the liquid phase, i.e., bio-oil. However, the type of biomass is, also, an impor-
tant factor for determining the ratios of solid, liquid, and gaseous phases produced. Exam-
ples of flash pyrolysis are given in Sects. 5.6.3. and 5.6.4.

4.3 Fast pyrolysis

It is relatively close to flash pyrolysis, but conducted at slower heating rates. The major
component, in fast pyrolysis products, is the liquid and gaseous phases, i.e., bio-oil and
biogas. Fast pyrolysis typically involves high heating rates (> 10–200 °C/s) and short resi-
dence times (0.5–10 s, typically < 2 s). Bio-oil yield (dry biomass basis) can be as high
as 50–70 wt%. In comparison, the flash pyrolysis process is characterized by higher heat-
ing rates and shorter residence times (< 0.5 s), resulting in very high bio-oil yields which
can reach up to 75–80 wt% (Kan et al. 2016). Examples of fast pyrolysis are given in
Sects. 5.1., 5.2., 5.3., and 5.6.2.

5 Current and future prospects of biomass pyrolysis

5.1 Microwave pyrolysis of biomass (Borges et al. 2014b; Xie et al. 2015; Liu et al.
2016; Zhang et al. 2017b)

Microwave heating may be used for fast pyrolysis. Typically microwave radiation is
absorbed by biomass. Microwave heats biomass with high efficiency, the same way as
microwave food heating. It shortens the initiation time of pyrolysis reactions. Also, the
energy required for the process is greatly reduced. Pyrolysis can be initiated at relatively
lower temperatures by microwave heating (200–300 °C) (Zhang et al. 2017b).
Recent highly applicable examples of microwave pyrolysis of biomass are given below:
Carbon-based solid products for treatment of contaminated water were prepared by
microwave pyrolysis of pecan nutshell (Carya illinoinensis). Analysis and characteri-
zation of intermediate microwave pyrolysis products were conducted to determine the
physical and chemical effects of microwave energy interaction with biomass. Carbon-
based products performance was tested for lead ion removal. The main mechanism was
ion exchange by calcium ions on the surface of the material applied in lead removal. The
development of calcium compound was attributed to electromagnetic waves interaction

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 T. Y. A. Fahmy et al.

with biomass. For the first time, it was shown that intermediate products of traditional
pyrolysis are different than those of microwave pyrolysis. It was suggested that degrada-
tion of hemicelluloses and lignin occurs simultaneously, in contrast to their sequential
degradation in case of traditional pyrolysis (Jimenez et al. 2017).
Another novel research about the presence of microwave absorbents during micro-
wave fast pyrolysis was conducted. Silicon carbide (SiC) was used as microwave absor-
bent. Wood sawdust and corn stover were heated and pyrolyzed by microwave. Wood
sawdust showed maximum yield of bio-oil (65 wt%) at 480 °C, with biomass feeding of
2 g/min. Corn stover showed maximum yield of bio-oil (64 wt%) at 490–560 °C. It was
concluded that the presence of microwave absorbents is commercially feasible encour-
aging technology for future microwave pyrolysis applications (Borges et al. 2014a).

5.2 Solar pyrolysis of biomass

Solar pyrolysis depends on concentrated solar energy as the source of heat required
for biomass pyrolysis reactions. Solar energy also upgrades the biomass energy. This
energy upgrading occurs by storing solar energy in chemical forms in the produced
pyrolysis products (biogas, bio-oil, and biochar). Sun energy is added to the chemical
energy already stored in biomass. The energy already stored in biomass refers to the
energy produced when this biomass is burned conventionally in the presence of oxygen.
For conventional non-solar pyrolysis, energy is required in all traditional pyrolysis
techniques to heat biomass. This energy is supplied from non-renewable resources, e.g.,
burning petroleum fuels. This decreases the feasibility of the process and creates envi-
ronmental drawbacks (Nzihou et al. 2012; Pozzobon et al. 2014; REN21 2014; Borges
et al. 2014a).
Recent highly applicable examples of solar pyrolysis of biomass are given below:
High yield of gas was produced by solar pyrolysis from a group of agricultural resi-
dues and forest by-products, namely pine sawdust, peach pit, grape stalk, and grape marc
(squeezed grape residue). Factors affecting the yield of gas were studied, including type
of biomass, temperature (800–2000 °C), and rates of heating (10–150 °C/s). Gas yield
increased with increasing the amount of cellulose and hemicellulose contents in biomass.
(This depends on type of biomass used.) Higher temperatures increased the gas yield. Also,
higher rates of heating favored gas formation. Pine sawdust produced 63.5 wt% of gas by
solar pyrolysis at 2000 °C and rate of heating 50 °C/s (Li et al. 2016).
Another study investigated solar heat to pyrolyze orange peel in a parabolic solar
concentrator. Maximum temperature reached in this study was 465 °C. Pyrolysis prod-
ucts of orange peel at these conditions produced a variety of chemicals valuable for
pharmaceutical and chemical industries (Morales et al. 2014).
Other interesting materials such as chicken litter have also been employed for solar
pyrolysis (Weldekidan et al. 2017).
An extensive study was conducted on comparing theoretical modeling with real
application of fast solar pyrolysis of biomass.
Theoretical values of pyrolysis products of the proposed device and conditions are
bio-oil 51.5%, gas 4.8%, and char 43.7%. The authors compared these proposed theo-
retical values with other literature values at different conditions and biomass types. The
authors believe that their proposed device and concepts will help efforts aiming at sus-
tainable energy production (Bashir et al. 2017).

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

5.3 Plasma pyrolysis of biomass

Plasma is an ionized gas. It is composed of positive ions and negative electrons of

almost equal quantities. Plasma is usually designated as fourth state of matter. Its prop-
erties are different from neutral gasses. Plasmas are divided into two categories, namely
hot plasma and cold plasma. Plasma is naturally not available, at the normal conditions,
on the earth’s surface. However, it is formed during lightning, and it is also available at
the core and corona of sun and stars. Artificially, it may be produced, by heating gases
or applying strong electromagnetic field to gases (Piel 2010; Morozov 2013).
Hot plasma is used for thermal pyrolysis. Biomass pyrolysis by hot plasma has many
advantages. Plasma’s high energy and temperatures promote fast pyrolysis reactions,
thus increasing gas production and decreasing heavy tars production (by avoiding repo-
lymerization or recondensation of pyrolysis products, which may occur by increasing
pyrolysis time and residence time of pyrolysis products in the reactor) (Baumann et al.
1988; Zhao et al. 2001; Tang and Huang 2005; Gitzhofer 2015).
Recent highly applicable examples of plasma pyrolysis of biomass are given below:
A new process adopted radiofrequency (RF) plasma pyrolysis of biomass. The pro-
cess investigated a pressure range of 3000–8000 Pa one atm = 101 Pa, at 900–2000 °C,
and plasma input powers (1600–2000 W). The process succeeded to produce high yields
of gas and charcoal of high quality. The charcoal possessed great pore volume and sur-
face area to recommend its use as activated carbon. The gas was mainly composed of
carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which recommends its use as syngas (Tang and Huang
2005).
In other work, hemicelluloses reaction mechanisms during plasma pyrolysis were stud-
ied and several pathways for their reactions were suggested. Chemical composition of
different biomass types and their corresponding yields of gas, bio-oil, and charcoal were
studied from lot of previous work on plasma pyrolysis. This was used to establish an under-
standing of biomass behavior in plasma pyrolysis. It was shown that active H composing
plasma is of major role in controlling reaction mechanisms (Huang et al. 2016).

5.4 Hydrogen production via biomass pyrolysis

Hydrogen is considered an excellent energy source. It is three times more efficient than
gasoline, regarding the amount of energy produced for the same mass. Hydrogen com-
bustion is very environment-friendly, since only water is produced from its combustion.
Large-scale production of hydrogen from biomass would be a great push to sustainability
of energy. However, up till now more than half of the hydrogen produced globally depends
on steam reforming of natural gas. Natural gas is fossil fuel and non-renewable. It is com-
posed mostly of methane with little amounts of other hydrocarbon gases. Thus, there is a
great demand for research about converting renewable sources, as biomass, into hydrogen
(Housecroft and Sharpe 2005; Tanksale et al. 2010, 2013; Waheed and Williams 2013;
U.S. Department of Energy 2013).
Sugarcane bagasse, wheat straw, and rice husk were studied for hydrogen production in
a two-stage process of pyrolysis and steam reforming. The first step was biomass pyrolysis;
the second step was steam reforming of the volatile and liquid products of pyrolysis. Sev-
eral catalysts were investigated for steam reforming. The optimum was 10 wt% Ni-dolo-
mite. Rice husk produced the highest yield of hydrogen (Waheed and Williams 2013).

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 T. Y. A. Fahmy et al.

It is worth mentioning that steam reforming is a process of converting hydrocarbons

into hydrogen and carbon monoxide, by treating hydrocarbons with steam at high tempera-
ture in the presence of catalyst (Kan et al. 2010).
In another study, different char-based catalysts were evaluated in order to increase
hydrogen production from the steam pyrolysis of olive pomace (squeezed olives) in two-
stage system. Biomass char, nickel-loaded biomass char, coal char, and nickel- or iron-
loaded coal chars were used as catalyst. Acid-washed biomass char was also tested to
investigate the effect of inorganics in char on catalytic activity for hydrogen production.
The results showed that the steam in the absence of catalyst had no influence on hydrogen
production. Increase in catalytic bed temperature (from 500 to 700 °C) enhanced hydrogen
production in the presence of Ni-impregnated and non-impregnated biomass char. Inherent
inorganic content of char had great effect on hydrogen production. Ni-based biomass char
exhibited the highest catalytic activity in terms of hydrogen production. Besides, Ni- and
Fe-based coal char had catalytic activity on ­H2 production. On the other hand, the results
showed that biomass char was not thermally stable under steam pyrolysis conditions.
Weight loss of catalyst during steam pyrolysis could be attributed to steam gasification of
biomass char itself. In contrast, properties of coal char-based catalysts after steam pyrolysis
process remained nearly unchanged, leading to better thermal stability than biomass char
(Duman and Yanik 2017).

5.5 Co‑pyrolysis of biomass and synthetic polymers (enhancing aromatic

hydrocarbon production from biomass pyrolysis)

Due to the low hydrogen content and high oxygen content of biomass, its pyrolysis is not
efficient for production of aromatic hydrocarbons. This may be overcome by co-pyrolysis
of biomass with organic compounds of high hydrogen content, e.g., alcohols or plastics,
which possess high H/C ratios (Li et al. 2013, 2014; Dorado et al. 2014; Xue et al. 2015;
Zhang et al. 2015a; Kim et al. 2016; Özsin and Pütün 2017; Duman and Yanik 2017).
In recent studies, catalytic co-pyrolysis of cellulose with thermoplastics, e.g., polypro-
pylene (PP) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), showed great promise for aro-
matic hydrocarbon production. HZSM-5 and HY were used as catalysts (Kim et al. 2016).
Another study investigated co-pyrolysis of polystyrene with biomass. Two types of bio-
mass were investigated (walnut shell and peach stones). Polystyrene succeeded to promote
the production of aromatic hydrocarbons (Dorado et al. 2014).

5.6 Miscellaneous pyrolysis processes of biomass

5.6.1 Sewage and biomass co‑pyrolysis

Sewage was co-pyrolyzed with biomass under vacuum. Synergism was apparent by
increase in gas yield. Rice husk and sewage were co-pyrolyzed at 900 °C. To increase
interaction between sewage and biomass, the pyrolytic products were kept in contact for
a long time reaching more than 2 h. The authors postulated that sewage enriched the co-
pyrolysis blend by ­CO2 and ­H2O. At high temperatures, ­CO2 and ­H2O caused more steam
reforming of the char produced during pyrolysis. Thus, more char was converted into gas.
This synergism increases the feasibility of gas production (Zhang et al. 2015b).

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

5.6.2 Furfural production from biomass pyrolysis

Furfural is a valuable chemical; the production of furfural from renewable biomass

resources becomes more attractive in recent years. In this study, biomass fast pyrolysis
with heterogeneous catalysts (titanium compounds (TiN, ­TiO2, and ­TiOSO4) and metal
nitrides (MoN, GaN, and VN)) for furfural production was investigated experimentally.
Comparing three biomass residues, corncob, wheat straw and cotton stalk, corncob
showed higher furfural yield due to the higher holocellulose content, while wheat straw
showed higher furfural selectivity. The measurement results indicated that TiN and GaN
promoted the furfural compounds production notably mainly through direct decomposi-
tion of oligosaccharides. The formation of furfural was promoted when the amount of
TiN was increased, and the yield of furfural formed was about 5.5 times the size of that
from non-catalytic pyrolysis when TiN/cellulose mass ratio was 4. The furfural yield
decreased when the pyrolysis residence time increased from 10 to 30 s, which suggests
competitive reactions (formation of 1,6-anhydro-beta-d-glucopyranose) against the for-
mation of furfural. TiN, as a catalyst for fast pyrolysis toward furfural production, can
be well applied to agriculture biomass residues (Chen et al. 2017).

5.6.3 Pyrolysis of emerging biomass (exotic biomass)

5.6.3.1 Cotton shells as a source of bio‑oil Cotton shells flash pyrolysis was studied
to determine their prospects as bio-oil source. At 450 °C, 51.25 wt% of bio-oil was
obtained by pyrolysis (Madhu et al. 2016).

5.6.3.2 Coffee grounds as a source of bio‑oil Coffee grounds are a promising bio-
mass resource due to the growth of coffee consumption and their high calorific
value. In this study, biocrude oil was produced from coffee grounds. Various pyroly-
sis temperatures were tested, and the maximum biocrude oil yield was 59% at the
pyrolysis temperature of 550 °C with a feeding rate of coffee grounds at 17.7 kg/h.
In a multistage condenser, the biocrude oil yields and properties were different in
each condenser stage. The higher heating value of the biocrude oil from the primary
condenser was 7157 kcal/kg, which was about 60% higher than that from woody
biomass (Choi et al. 2017).
Another example of coffee grounds pyrolysis is catalytic pyrolysis by NiCu-impreg-
nated catalysts. The catalyst lowered the bio-oil production, but the homogeneous distri-
bution of organic compounds was improved in the bio-oil (Kan et al. 2013).

5.6.4 Comparison between algal biomass and terrestrial lignocellulosic biomass

pyrolysis

Each of microalgae (MA) Chlorella vulgaris and palm kernel shell (PKS) was sepa-
rately flash pyrolyzed, at 600–900 °C. Yields of bio-oil were 60.22 wt% for MA and
73.74 wt% for PKS. Bio-oil produced from MA showed high amounts of nitrogen-con-
taining compounds. This was explained by the high protein content in algae as com-
pared to PKS. On the other hand, bio-oil produced from PKS showed more phenols.

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 T. Y. A. Fahmy et al.

This was explained by the high amounts of lignin in PKS, which decomposes on pyroly-
sis to give phenols (Maliutina et al. 2017).

5.6.5 Selective preparation of high‑valued phenolic compounds from biomass

An important flavoring compound is 4-ethyl phenol (4-EP); it is also used for synthetic res-
ins and antioxidants production. Conventional production of 4-EP is complicated non-eco-
friendly multistep process. Recent studies showed that pyrolysis of bagasse, in the presence
of activated carbon as catalyst, at low temperatures, produces (4-EP) with high selectivity.
The yield of 4-EP was 2.49 wt%, and high selectivity about 10.71% (Lu et al. 2016).

6 Specific future prospects of biomass pyrolysis

Some of the previously mentioned trends of pyrolysis are still developing. Their applica-
tions are considered among the future prospects, e.g., microwave pyrolysis, solar pyrolysis,
plasma pyrolysis, hydrogen production via biomass pyrolysis, and co-pyrolysis.
Other more recent trends also include the following:

6.1 Preparation of supercapacitor materials

6.1.1 Pyrolysis of biomass for preparation of n‑doped supercapacitors

Preparation of supercapacitor porous carbon materials by conventional methods, e.g.,

chemical vapor deposition, is non-feasible on industrial scale. One-step co-pyrolysis of
biomass (wheat straw as carbon precursor), with melamine (as nitrogen precursor) and
salt templating (mixed salt of KCl/ZnCl2 at 51:49), succeeded to produce porous nitro-
gen-doped supercapacitor carbon material. Studies showed that the presence of silicon can
improve the porosity and act as catalyst during pyrolysis, thus promoting the supercapaci-
tance. This suggests using biomass of high silicon content for supercapacitors production,
e.g., wheat straw.
Other studies succeeded to use cornstalk for production of supercapacitor carbon
nanosheets by pyrolytic process. Corn cob, peanut shells, and red cedar wood produced
promising supercapacitor materials (Jensen et al. 2000; Del Río et al. 2012; Fechler et al.
2013; Jiang et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2013; He et al. 2014; Liu et al. 2014; Yin et al. 2014;
Genovese et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2017a).

6.1.2 Activated carbon electrodes and fuels from biomass: an integrated approach

to green energy systems

Recently, two positive achievements were realized: increasing the yield of bio-oil from
pyrolysis of biomass and converting biochar, produced during pyrolysis, into activated car-
bon electrodes of 100% coulombic efficiency over charge–discharge 4000 cycles. This was
achieved by impregnating the produced biochar with potassium hydroxide. Then, it was
heat-treated in an inert atmosphere. Pistachio nutshell was pyrolyzed in this study. Yield of
biofuel increased by 25% (Goldfarb et al. 2017).

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

6.2 Fabricating metallic catalysts embedded on biochar for removal

of environmental contaminants

6.2.1 Sustainable pyrolytic production of zerovalent iron

Zerovalent iron (ZVI) nanoparticles have been demonstrated to effectively decon-

taminate soil and groundwater from certain toxic contaminants, e.g., trichloroethylene
(TCE).
Zerovalent iron may be produced in one step by a green sustainable method via
pyrolysis of biomass in the presence of iron oxides. Biomass was co-pyrolyzed with Fe-
rich source at low oxygen. Composites of biochar and nanometer-sized ZVI phases were
obtained.
Pure cellulose, red oak, dried distillers grain, switchgrass, and corn stover were used
as biomass feed stock for pyrolysis. F ­ eCl3 was used for pretreatment of these biomass
types, before pyrolysis at 900 °C. Fe was reduced to ZVI.
Pure cellulose and red oak are the most suitable raw materials for producing ZVI
for eliminating environmental contamination; because among other types of biomass,
they contain the lowest amounts of Si and P. The presence of these elements in biomass
decreased the ability of ZVI for contamination removal and downgraded ZVI, by mak-
ing it more easily oxidable and vulnerable to degradation (Lawrinenko et al. 2017).

6.2.2 Fabrication of cobalt‑impregnated biochar, by lignin pyrolysis, for reduction

of bromate contaminant

Ozonation for water treatment produces bromate (­ BrO3−) which is a suspected carcino-
gen. This motivates research for eliminating the bromate pollutant.
In a recent study, lignin was impregnated with cobalt (Co) and then pyrolyzed to
produce cobalt–biochar composite. This composite may be used as a catalyst to reduce
bromate, leading to decontamination.
Pyrolysis was conducted in carbon dioxide (­ CO2) medium. The produced biochar was
of 100 times greater surface area than that in case of nitrogen medium, which enhanced
the decontamination ability and even increased the production of syngas ­(H2 and CO).
The authors attributed this enhancement to reaction between carbon dioxide and the
produced volatile pyrolysis products (Cho et al. 2017).

7 Conclusions

The authors predict that combining solar pyrolysis with hydrogen production would be
the eco-friendliest and most energetically feasible process in the future. Since hydrogen
is an ideal clean fuel, this process may share in limiting climate changes due to ­CO2
emissions.
A comparison between solar pyrolysis and conventional pyrolysis regarding the eco-
nomic efficiency and ecological impact may be illustrated by the examples shown below
in Figs. 1 and 2 (Joardder et al. 2014). It is well illustrated that burning biomass (e.g.,
burning rice husk)—to provide heat to drive pyrolysis—is much less economic and less
ecofriendly as compared to solar pyrolysis. The economic analysis of solar pyrolysis

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 T. Y. A. Fahmy et al.

Fig. 1  Comparison of energy required to provide heat for driving pyrolysis in case of burning biomass (rice
husk) and in case of solar-assisted pyrolysis

Fig. 2  Comparison of C ­ O2 emission in case of burning biomass (rice husk) to provide heat for driving
pyrolysis and in case of solar-assisted pyrolysis

shows energy saving of about 25% in case of applying solar-assisted pyrolysis as com-
pared to conventional pyrolysis. The environmental performance of solar pyrolysis is
distinguished. This is evident by the cutting of ­CO2 emissions by about 33% in case of
solar-assisted pyrolysis as compared to conventional pyrolysis.

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Biomass pyrolysis: past, present, and future

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Affiliations

Tamer Y. A. Fahmy1 · Yehia Fahmy1 · Fardous Mobarak1 · Mohamed El‑Sakhawy1 ·

Ragab E. Abou‑Zeid1

* Tamer Y. A. Fahmy
drtamer_y_a@yahoo.com
1
Cellulose and Paper Department, National Research Center, Sh. El‑Tahrir, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt

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