A review on pyrolysis of biomass feedstocks

The sustainable wood produces -160 tonnes/GWh carbon dioxide emissions, as compared to coal with +964, petroleum oil with +726 and even renewable energy source, solar having +5 tonnes CO2 emissions/GWh. These figures are from European Union Report 2001, which increased exponentially with the passage of time. Nevertheless, research and development on reducing the CO2 emissions gives a substantial ray of hope. It is quite evident from the recent advancements of bioenergy that biomass being a potentially clean energy can prove to be the most energy efficient source, provided its conversion mechanism are little more improved. Being a promising renewable energy source, biomass has been able to grab much attention recently. For the efficient utilization of biomass, among the 3 biomass-to-energy conversion technologies named combustion, gasification and pyrolysis - the technology which has proved to be a convenient and useful one is the pyrolysis. In this review paper, the classification, mechanism, processes of biomass pyrolysis along with its associated latest technologies will be brought into limelight.