Sustainable energy and fuels from biomass: a review focusing on hydrothermal biomass processing

Abstract

Fossil fuels are being replaced with renewable energy resources (biomass and biomass waste, solar, geothermal, wind, etc.) to ensure sustainable development, reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, address environmental challenges including climate change. Today, biomass produces 5 × 10¹⁹ kJ of energy/year, which corresponds to 10% of the annual global energy consumption. Considering the variety of biomass resources, this value is predicted to reach 150 × 10¹⁹ kJ by 2050. Biomass may become even more important for use as an energy resource and chemical raw material in the 21st century. Hydrothermal biomass conversion stands out as a promising and alternative technology. Methods such as traditional gasification and pyrolysis require dry biomass. Hydrothermal techniques have been developed to eliminate the cost and time required for drying biomass. The purpose of this process is to decompose biomass with a high moisture content into small molecules and reduce its oxygen content to obtain liquid fuels or valuable chemicals. This review presents the current and future state of energy, energy sources, biomass properties and biomass conversion technologies with a focus on hydrothermal technologies.