Cited by 31Thermochemical Biomass Conversion ProcessesMining and Gasification TechnologiesCatalysts for Methane Reforming

Biomass Gasification as a Scalable, Green Route to Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and Synthesis Gas for Materials: A Review

Open access
Lackner, Maximilian, Fei, Qiang, Guo, Shuqi, Yang, Ning, Guan, Xiaoping, Hu, Peng·2024·Fuels

Abstract

The high externalized and still partly unknown costs of fossil fuels through air pollution from combustion, and their limited resources have caused mankind to (re)turn to renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biomass to meet its energy needs. Converting biomass to synthesis gas is advantageous since it can utilize a wide variety of (waste) feedstocks to obtain an energetic and versatile product at low cost in large quantities. Gasification is no new technology; yet in recent years, biomass gasification has attracted significant attention. Due to the non-depletable nature of agricultural waste and similar biomass side streams, which have little value and can bring environmental problems when mismanaged such as methane emissions, it is possible to obtain cheap electrical or thermal energy through the gas produced with high efficiencies. Combined heat and power (CHP) is the preferred use case, and recently the focus has moved to polygeneration, e.g., to make value-added products from the synthesis gas. Fischer–Tropsch synthesis from coal-derived syngas is now being complemented by the gas fermentation of biobased synthesis gas, where microorganisms yield materials from CO/H2 (and CO2) in an anaerobic process and from CH4/O2 in an aerobic process. Syngas methanation offers an alternative route to produce synthetic natural gas (SNG, or bio-SNG) as additional feedstock for gas fermentation. Materials made from syngas are decoupled from primary agricultural operations and do not compete with feed and food production. Due to the ample raw material base for gasification, which can basically be all kinds of mostly dry biomass, including waste such as municipal solid waste (MSW), syngas-derived products are highly scalable. Amongst them are bioplastics, biofuels, biobased building blocks, and single-cell protein (SCP) for feed and food. This article reviews the state-of-the-art in biomass gasification with a spotlight on gas fermentation for the sustainable production of high-volume materials.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3390/fuels5040034

Cites

121 of 121 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Gaseous fuels are typically utilized for energy generation in combined heat and power systems, electricity generation, direct heating, and as fuel for transportation or industrial processes.

    “These gaseous fuels are typically utilized for energy generation in applications such as combined heat and power (CHP) systems, electricity generation in power plants, direct heating, and as fuel for transportation or industrial processes [232].”

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Cited by

Authors
Lackner, M., Fei, Q., Guo, S., Yang, N., Guan, X., & Hu, P.
Affiliations
  • Circe Biotechnologie GmbH (AT)
  • Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
  • Shanghai GTLB Biotech Co., Ltd., 1688 North Guoquan Road, Shanghai 200438, China
Corresponding author
Lackner, Maximilian
Venue
Fuels
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2024-10-04
Volume
5
Issue
4
Pages
625-649
ISSN
2673-3994 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4403128706
Cited by
31
References
121
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 3
FWCI
3.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Fuels (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
FFG (903872)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Mining and Gasification Technologies
  • Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Catalysis › Catalysts for Methane Reforming
Keywords
biomass gasification, syngas, combined heat and power, polygeneration, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, gas fermentation, syngas methanation, synthetic natural gas, bioplastics, biofuels, microbial protein, agricultural waste, municipal solid waste

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