Thermochemical liquefaction of agricultural and forestry wastes into biofuels and chemicals from circular economy perspectives

Chengfang Song; Cheng Zhang; Shicheng Zhang; Hui Lin; Yrjälä Kim; Muthusamy Ramakrishnan; Yanqiang Du; Yan Zhang; Huabao Zheng; Damià Barceló

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141972

Thermochemical liquefaction of agricultural and forestry wastes into biofuels and chemicals from circular economy perspectives

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Dec 20:749:141972. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141972. Epub 2020 Sep 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
³ The Institute of Environment, Resources, Soil and Fertilizers, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310021, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China; Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
⁶ National Land Joint Engineering Research Center for Rural Environment Resources Utilization and Remediation, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
⁷ Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China. Electronic address: zhenghuabao@zafu.edu.cn.
⁸ Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, Girona, Spain; Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: dbcqam@cid.csic.es.

PMID: 33370925
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141972

Abstract

Waste produced in various fields and activities in society has been increasing, thereby causing immediate environmental harm and a serious-global problem. Recently, the attitude towards waste has changed along with innovations making waste as a new resource. Agricultural and forestry wastes (AFWs) are globally produced in huge amounts and thought to be an important resource to be used for decreasing the dependence on fossil fuels. The central issue is to take use of AFW for different types of products making it a source of energy and at the same time refining it for the production of valuable chemicals. In this review, we present an overview of the composition and pretreatment of AFWs, thermochemical liquefaction including direct liquefaction and indirect liquefaction (liquid products from syngas by gasification) for producing biofuels and/or chemicals. The following two key points were discussed in-depth: the solvent or medium of thermochemical conversion and circular economy of liquid products. The concept of bio-economy entails economic use of waste streams, leading to the widened assessment of biomass use for energy where sustainability is a key issue coined in the circular economy. The smart use of AFWs requires a combination of available waste streams and local technical solutions to meet sustainability criteria.

Keywords: Agricultural and forestry wastes; Biofuels; Chemicals; Circular economy; Thermochemical liquefaction.

Publication types

Review