Biomass Pyrolysis and Pyrolysis Oils

Abstract

Crude oils have been primary sources of energy and fuels, such as petrodiesel fuel. However, significant public concerns about the sustainability, price fluctuations, and adverse environmental impact of crude oils have emerged since the 1970s. Thus, biooils and biooil-based biodiesel fuels have emerged as an alternative to crude oils and crude oil-based petrodiesel fuels in recent decades. Nowadays, although petrodiesel fuels are still used extensively, biodiesel fuels are being used increasingly in the transportation and power sectors. Therefore, there has been great public interest in the development of biooils, especially pyrolysis oils and their upgrading. However, for the efficient progression of the research in this field, it is necessary to develop efficient incentive structures for the primary stakeholders and to inform these stakeholders about the research. Although there have been a number of reviews and book chapters in this field, there has been no review of the 25-most-cited articles. Thus, this chapter reviews these articles by highlighting the key findings of these studies on biomass pyrolysis and pyrolysis oils. Then, it discusses these key findings.