Low temperature microwave-assisted vs conventional pyrolysis of various biomass feedstocks

A comparison between conventional pyrolysis and a novel developed low-temperature microwave-assisted pyrolysis methodology has been performed for the valorisation of a range of biomass feedstocks including waste residues. Microwave pyrolysis was found to efficiently deliver comparable evolution of bio-gases in the system as compared with conventional pyrolysis at significantly reduced temperatures (120–180°C vs 250–400°C). The gas obtained from microwave-assisted pyrolysis was found to contain CO2, CH4 and CO as major components as well as other related chemicals (e.g. acids, aldehydes, alkanes) which were obtained in different proportions depending on the selected feedstock.