An insight on upgrading of biomass pyrolysis products and utilization: Current status and future prospect of biomass in India

Lignocellulosic biomass is seen as a promising environmentally benign replacement for carbon-based fuels as well as a feedstock for chemicals. The energy contained in biomass can be explored using variety of ways. Pyrolysis is the first step in both gasification and combustion and is the most fundamental process in the thermochemical conversion of biomass. The pyrolysis products, namely the liquid product (bio-oil and aqueous condensate) and the char, however, could not be used as a direct source of fuel due to their limitation of quality and thus require upgradation. Thus, further advancements in pyrolysis technology, such as pre-treatment of raw materials and/or post-treatment or downstream processing of raw pyrolysis products to generate upgraded fuel with attributes similar to those of fossil fuels, are critical for effective biomass utilization. The present work provides a broad overview of the detailed biomass type and their composition, exhaustive insights about the pyrolysis process as a biomass conversion technology as well as the pyrolysis products. The most important aspects of the manuscript is to highlight the research undertaken for the upgradation of the different pyrolysis products to obtain a high quality end products that could substitute the fossil fuel. Graphical abstract