Fast Pyrolysis of Lignocellulosic Biomass for the Production of Energy and Chemicals: A Critical Review

As a consequence of the shortage of traditional resources and escalating environmental constraints, the feedstocks for the production of energy and chemicals are swiftly changing. Biomass has received remarkable attention from both academia and industries as it is the most promising feedstock for these applications. Understanding the conversion mechanisms of such renewable low-value material to value-added products would lead to providing insights to enhance the product yield and/or quality and, in turn, help the new products compete with the traditional ones. In this regard, this paper provides an updated review on the processing of biomass for the production of valuable-products that could replace a part of the fossil fuel-based energy and chemicals. The common technologies that are performed in the conversion processes are demonstrated, and the thermochemical technique is emphasized. Several chemical reactors and their processes for fast pyrolysis applications are presented. The organic chemistry of pyrolysis of a biomass plant and its three constituents (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) is debated. The effect of the heating mechanism, process parameters, loading of catalyst and other aspects are discussed. Eventually, the economics aspect of fast pyrolysis of biomass is evaluated.