The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is a crucial strategy to achieve carbon neutrality. However, the methanol industry relies heavily on fossil fuels. Alternative feedstocks, such as biomass and plastics, still face many challenges. Biomass is hydrogen-deficient and cannot achieve a high methanol yield, while plastic gasification consumes too much energy. Accordingly, this research proposed a new method to synergistically coproduce methanol and biochar from bagasse pyrolysis and plastic waste gasification. This innovative approach was assessed using techno-economic analysis and hybrid life-cycle assessment based on sugarcane bagasse resources in Guangxi province as a case study and compared with the other four scenarios. The results indicated that the novel method exhibits huger economic and environmental benefits with a low payback period of 6.32 years and a low global warming potential of -1875.41 kg CO2-eq/t. However, the high total capital cost is the primary potential obstacle to widespread promotion. Spatial-temporal analysis shows that Chongzuo and Laibin have the most tremendous methanol production potential and economic and environmental benefits due to their high bagasse production. This study contributes to biomass utilization and plastic waste management by proposing a synergistic process and offers multiple benefits for carbon sequestration, energy security, and waste valorization.

The production of sustainable and green energy is an important means to cope with global warming and promote the sustainable development of human society. Biomass is a significant renewable energy source to satisfy daily energy needs because of its diversity, abundance, and availability. Gasification is a multifunctional and environmentally friendly technology that can produce a range of products such as syngas, heat, electricity, biofuels, and chemicals from waste biomass. This chapter provides an overview of the current status of gasification technology, including reaction mechanisms, various gasifiers, gasification processes, biomass properties, operating parameters, and end products. The chapter also highlights recent advances in biomass gasification commercialization, introduces the economic and environmental performance from the large-scale implementation of waste biomass gasification, and proposes strategies for further improvement. Most importantly, the chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities for further research and development in gasification technology. This chapter summarizes the present situation, problems, potentials, and prospects of gasification technology and its application in a series of fields, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers in this field.

This study developed six machine learning models to predict the biochar properties from the dry torrefaction of lignocellulosic biomass by using biomass characteristics and torrefaction conditions as input variables. After optimization, gradient boosting machines were the optimal model, with the highest coefficient of determination ranging from 0.89 to 0.94. Torrefaction conditions exhibited a higher relative contribution to the yield and higher heating value (HHV) of biochar than biomass characteristics. Temperature was the dominant contributor to the elemental and proximate composition and the yield and HHV of biochar. Feature importance and SHapley Additive exPlanations revealed the effect of each influential factor on the target variables and the interactions between these factors in torrefaction. Software that can accurately predict the element, yield, and HHV of biochar was developed. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the key factors and their interactions influencing the torrefaction process and biochar properties.

Methanol is regarded as an important chemical precursor in the chemical industry and has huge potential to replace gasoline and diesel as vehicle fuel. Biomass to methanol is a sustainable and green production method, but its economic and environmental viability is contingent on production technologies and geographic context. This study proposed a carbon-negative methanol production method that integrated four modules of bagasse pyrolysis, physical activation, chemical looping, and methanol synthesis in the context of China. Three scenarios, including co-production of methanol and biochar, co-production of methanol and activated carbon, and coproduction of methanol and activated carbon with extra hydrogen, were put forward and simulated in Aspen Plus. An evaluation system was established to quantitatively assess the carbon and energy efficiencies and economic and environmental benefits of the three scenarios. The results suggested that the addition of hydrogen effectively increased the methanol yield in Scenario 3, leading to high carbon and energy efficiencies. Scenarios 1 and 2 exhibited better economic and environmental performance with low payback periods of 6.53 and 5.80 years and low global warming potentials of -1631.18 and -710.28 kg CO2-eq/t methanol. However, Scenario 3 would be economically and environmentally feasible by decreasing hydrogen production costs and implementing green hydrogen production methods in the foreseeable future. This study provides a viable approach for sustainable methanol production in China, thereby aligning with the current imperative of achieving carbon neutrality.

The ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19 has devastatingly influenced the environment, society, and economy around the world. Numerous medical resources are used to inhibit the infectious transmission of the virus, resulting in massive medical waste. This study proposes a sustainable and environment-friendly method to convert hazardous medical waste into valuable fuel products through pyrolysis. Medical protective clothing (MPC), a typical medical waste from COVID-19, was utilized for co-pyrolysis with oil palm wastes (OPWs). The utilization of MPC improved the bio-oil properties in OPWs pyrolysis. The addition of catalysts further ameliorated the bio-oil quality. HZSM-5 was more effective in producing hydrocarbons in bio-oil, and the relevant reaction pathway was proposed. Meanwhile, a project was simulated to co-produce bio-oil and elec-tricity from the co-pyrolysis of OPWs and MPC from application perspectives. The techno-economic analysis indicated that the project was economically feasible, and the payback period was 6.30-8.75 years. Moreover, it was also environmentally benign as its global warming potential varied from-211.13 to-90.76 kg CO2-eq/t. Therefore, converting MPC and OPWs into biofuel and electricity through co-pyrolysis is a green, economic, and sustainable method that can decrease waste, produce valuable fuel products, and achieve remarkable economic and environmental benefits.

Power and heat production is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Malaysia, contributing to over 30% of total emissions. The transition from fossil to biomass resources in the power industry is an essential step towards achieving carbon neutrality in Malaysia. Oil palm wastes are the most abundant biomass resources in Malaysia because of the thriving oil palm industry. Consequently, two scenarios: (1) co-production of biochar and electricity, and (2) electricity generation, were proposed and simulated in Aspen Plus. A comprehensive evaluation system for mass and energy balances, techno-economic analysis, and life-cycle assessment was established to assess the two scenarios quantitatively. The results indicated that Scenario 1 achieved better economic and environmental benefits, the payback period was 6.12 to 8.89 years, and the global warming potential ranged from -885.23 to -1311.95 kg CO2-eq/t. The state-level spatiotemporal trajectory of oil palm waste resources and CO2 emission reduction potentials and economic benefits were analyzed. Theoretically, fully utilizing oil palm wastes in Scenario 1 would create economic benefits of 35.36 billion USD and mitigate CO2 emissions by 131.97 million tons in 2021. This study provides useful guidance for exploiting oil palm wastes to achieve carbon neutrality in Malaysia.

The continuous development of the economy and the constant improvement of living standards have stimulated the development of animal husbandry. This development has been accompanied by the massive production of animal manure with various bad odors and high heavy metal content, constituting severe damage to ecological security and human health. Traditional disposal methods, including composting and anaerobic digestion, are difficult to achieve satisfactory results due to long processing time, water and soil eutrophication, and toxic gas emissions. However, converting animal manure into bioenergy through pyrolysis is a clean, safe, and promising technique to reduce the amount of waste and produce valuable products. Co-pyrolysis with other materials can decrease the content of heavy metals in biochar and ameliorate the properties of products. The application of catalysts influences the pyrolysis process and product properties positively. The objective of this review is to analyze the properties of animal manure and discuss the recovery of biofuel from harmful animal manure by pyrolysis. A comprehensive analysis of animal manure pyrolysis and related product characteristics will provide a foundation for the sustainable management and scientific disposal of hazardous manure waste.

The application of waste oils as pyrolysis feedstocks to produce high-grade biofuels is receiving extensive attention, which will diversify energy supplies and address environmental challenges caused by waste oils treatment and fossil fuel combustion. Waste oils are the optimal raw materials to produce biofuels due to their high hydrogen and volatile matter content. However, traditional disposal methods such as gasification, transesterification, hydrotreating, solvent extraction, and membrane technology are difficult to achieve satisfactory effects owing to shortcomings like enormous energy demand, long process time, high operational cost, and hazardous material pollution. The usage of clean and safe pyrolysis technology can break through the current predicament. The bio-oil produced by the conventional pyrolysis of waste oils has a high yield and HHV with great potential to replace fossil fuel, but contains a high acid value of about 120 mg KOH/g. Nevertheless, the application of CaO and NaOH can significantly decrease the acid value of bio-oil to close to zero. Additionally, the addition of coexisting bifunctional catalyst, SBA-15@MgO@Zn in particular, can simultaneously reduce the acid value and positively influence the yield and quality of bio-oil. Moreover, co-pyrolysis with plastic waste can effectively save energy and time, and improve bio-oil yield and quality. Consequently, this paper presents a critical and comprehensive review of the production of biofuels using conventional and advanced pyrolysis of waste oils.

The continuous growth of population and the steady improvement of people's living standards have accelerated the generation of massive food waste. Untreated food waste has great potential to harm the environment and human health due to bad odor release, bacterial leaching, and virus transmission. However, the application of traditional disposal techniques like composting, landfilling, animal feeding, and anaerobic digestion are difficult to ease the environmental burdens because of problems such as large land occupation, virus transmission, hazardous gas emissions, and poor efficiency. Pyrolysis is a practical and promising route to reduce the environmental burden by converting food waste into bioenergy. This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of food waste, introduce the production of biofuels from conventional and advanced pyrolysis of food waste, and provide a basis for scientific disposal and sustainable management of food waste. The review shows that co-pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis significantly impact the pyrolysis process and product characteristics. The addition of tire waste promotes the synthesis of hydrocarbons and inhibits the formation of oxygenated compounds efficiently. The application of calcium oxide (CaO) exhibits good performance in the increment of bio-oil yield and hydrocarbon content. Based on this literature review, pyrolysis can be considered as the optimal technique for dealing with food waste and producing valuable products.

Oil palm wastes (OPWs) are important biomass resources, and approximately 127 million tons of OPWs are generated from the oil palm industry annually in Malaysia. The scientific and reasonable utilization of OPWs is essential to economic and environmental sustainability in the country. Pyrolysis is a mature and revolutionary technology that can convert OPWs into biofuel. The conversion of OPWs into biofuel is in accordance with the national conditions of Malaysia and can simultaneously address the problems of fossil fuel shortage and environmental deterioration. Therefore, Malaysia is the most active country in the research of OPWs pyrolysis and has achieved fruitful results. Bio-oil produced from the catalytic co-pyrolysis of OPWs with hydrogen-rich materials exhibits remarkable fuel properties. Biochar generated from OPWs pyrolysis presents huge application potential as an absorbent, catalyst, soil conditioner, and carbon sequestration agent. Consequently, the paper provides a comprehensive review of OPWs pyrolysis and lays the foundation for the exploitation of OPWs resources.

Microalgae are the most prospective raw materials for the production of biofuels, pyrolysis is an effective method to convert biomass into bioenergy. However, biofuels derived from the pyrolysis of microalgae exhibit poor fuel properties due to high content of moisture and protein. Co-pyrolysis is a simple and efficient method to produce high-quality bio-oil from two or more materials. Tires, plastics, and bamboo waste are the optimal co-feedstocks based on the improvement of yield and quality of bio-oil. Moreover, adding catalysts, especially CaO and Cu/ HZSM-5, can enhance the quality of bio-oil by increasing aromatics content and decreasing oxygenated and nitrogenous compounds. Consequently, this paper provides a critical review of the production of bio-oil from copyrolysis of microalgae with other biomass wastes. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanism of synergistic effects and the catalytic effect on co-pyrolysis are discussed. Finally, the economic viability and prospects of microalgae co-pyrolysis are summarized.

The emergence of bioenergy provides a solution to the environment and energy crises caused by the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. Pyrolysis technology has broad application prospects in bioenergy production and waste disposal, providing a solid guarantee for the sustainable development of human beings and the environment. As an endothermic process, pyrolysis relies on external heat as an energy source. The introduction of microwave provides a different energy source for the pyrolysis process and exhibits a different pyrolysis performance due to its unique energy transfer mechanism. Conventional pyrolysis is conducive to the formation of bio-oil, whereas microwave-assisted pyrolysis can improve the composition of bio-oil and the surface properties of biochar. This article focuses on the advantages and limitations of microwave-assisted and conventional pyrolysis modes. Special attention is given to the differences in product distribution and properties and the economic feasibility of the two pyrolysis modes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exerted great shocks and challenges to the environment, society and economy. Simultaneously, an intractable issue appeared: a considerable number of hazardous medical wastes have been generated from the hospitals, clinics, and other health care facilities, constituting a serious threat to public health and environmental sustainability without proper management. Traditional disposal methods like incineration, landfill and autoclaving are unable to reduce environmental burden due to the issues such as toxic gas release, large land occupation, and unsustainability. While the application of clean and safe pyrolysis technology on the medical wastes treatment to produce high-grade bioproducts has the potential to alleviate the situation. Besides, medical wastes are excellent and ideal raw materials, which possess high hydrogen, carbon content and heating value. Consequently, pyrolysis of medical wastes can deal with wastes and generate valuable products like bio-oil and biochar. Consequently, this paper presents a critical and comprehensive review of the pyrolysis of medical wastes. It demonstrates the feasibility of pyrolysis, which mainly includes pyrolysis characteristics, product properties, related problems, the prospects and future challenges of pyrolysis of medical wastes.

为迎合当今家庭成员希望在家中享受栽培植物、食用自己栽培的无公害蔬菜的愿望,面对都市用户群体设计了一款微型植物工厂,以简单经济可靠高效为原则,操作简易,维护方便.本设计以创造适合植物生长的人工环境为核心,将整个微型植物工厂划分为若干子系统,根据子系统的功能需求进行结构设计和工作方式设计.同时,按照设计制作样机进行了生菜栽培实验,验证了本设计的作物生产适用性.

为解决温室高湿环境下无线传感器网络的规划和部署问题,探究了高湿环境、通讯距离、天线高度对无线信号传播特性的影响,以433 MHz为载波频率,研究无线信号在不同湿度及不同高度下的传播特性,通过两组试验测取了接收信号强度及丢包率,并通过MatLab对试验数据进行回归分析.结果表明:在不同湿度和高度下,433MHz无线信道传播特性符合路径损耗模型,拟合决定系数在0.8920～0.9658之间;湿度对无线信号具有一定影响,尤其是湿度在80％以上时,对在冠层中传播的无线信号具有较大影响.同时,建立了路径损耗指数n与湿度之间的二次多项式关系模型,并根据此模型对路径损耗模型进行修正,建立了湿度系数修正模型.经验证,该模型均可有效地预测3种高度水平下的接收信号强度.

物联网技术的应用提高了设施农业自动化管理水平.但在推广过程中,依然存在着很多问题.其中,无线传感器网络的节点功耗一直是制约农业物联网技术实用化的重要因素.无线充电技术作为一种新型电能传输技术,受到了科研工作者越来越多的关注.因为它降低了传输时可能出现的安全隐患,极大地为设备供电提供了方便,具有极强的环境适应能力.所以,将无线充电技术应用于农业物联网中将具有重要意义及广阔前景.