(2022) Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews_Pyrolysis of lignocellulosic, algal, plastic, and other biomass wastes for biofuel production and circular bioeconomy: A review of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) approach

Escalante J., Chen W.-H., Tabatabaei M., Hoang A.T., Kwon E.E., Andrew Lin K.-Y., Saravanakumar A.

(Elsevier Ltd) Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews ISSN: 13640321 Vol.169 Issue. Article No.112914 DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2022.112914

Fossil fuels are currently the most significant energy sources. They are expected to become less available and more expensive, leading to a great demand for energy conservation and alternative energy sources. As a sustainable and renewable energy source, Biomass has piqued interest in generating bioenergy and biofuels over recent years. The thermal conversion of biomass through pyrolysis is an easy, useful, and low-cost process that can be applied to a wide variety of feedstocks. Pyrolysis characteristics of different feedstock samples can be analyzed and examined through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). TGA has been an essential tool and widely used to investigate the thermal characteristics of a substance under heating environments, such as thermodegradation dynamics and kinetics. Studying the potential of waste biomass for generating sustainable bioenergy carves a pathway into a circular bioeconomy regime, and can help tackle our heavy reliance on nonrenewable energy sources. This study aims to give a deep insight into the wide use of TGA in aiding in the research and development of pyrolysis of different waste biomass sources. The thermal characteristics portrayed by different biomass wastes through TGA are discussed. The effects of significant pyrolysis operating parameters are also illustrated. A more comprehensive understanding of evolved products during the pyrolysis stage can be gained by combining TGA with other analytical methods. The pros and cons of using TGA are also outlined. Overall, an in-depth literature review helps identify current trends and technological improvements (i.e., integrating artificial intelligence) of TGA use with pyrolysis. © 2022 The Authors

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan , R.O.C., under contracts MOST 109-2221-E-006-040-MY3 , MOST 110-2622-E-006-001-CC1 , and MOST 110-3116-F-006-003 - for this research. This research is also partly supported by the Higher Education Sprout Project, Ministry of Education to the Headquarters of University Advancement at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) .