Progress in thermodynamic simulation and system optimization of pyrolysis and gasification of biomass

Abstract

Due to the shortage of fossil energy, biomass has a potential to be a very promising alternative source. Unfortunately, a large part of biomass resources worldwide causes serious environmental pollution, low value-added utilization and energy waste due to unsustainable utilization of biomass. Simulation and optimization of the thermochemical utilization of biomass resources is a hot issue in the industry and academia, which can provide the relationship between the utilizations of biomass with sustainable objective and compositions of biomass, operational parameters, etc. This review focused on the theoretical research progress of sustainable utilization of biomass resources from three aspects: basic thermochemical data estimation, process simulation and system optimization of pyrolysis and gasification. And the application of artificial intelligence as a tool in the field of above three aspects was also introduced. Advantages and limitations of current methods, as well as future opportunities and challenges were also discussed.

Keywords

• Biomass
• Sustainable utilization
• Pyrolysis and gasification
• Thermochemical data
• Simulation and optimization
• Artificial intelligence