Chemicals

Ajay Kumar[15]‘* and Raymond Huhnke[16]

Introduction

There is a critical need to supplement fuels, chemicals and direct power provided by petroleum resources that have been increasingly dependent upon for over a century. There are many approaches to convert biomass renewable resources into fuels, chemicals and power. These approaches can be divided into two primary conversion categories: thermochemical and biochemical. Thermochemical approaches use heat and catalysts to achieve the conversion of biomass; whereas biochemical conversion uses microorganisms and biological catalysts. Advantages in using thermochemical techniques are that all combustible portions of biomass, including lignin, are utilized, products such as producer gas are more compatible with petroleum infrastructure, and the conversion process

is much faster. The major disadvantages are that it is high temperature process, and catalysts for syngas conversion and conditioning and bio-oil upgrading are not yet economical or efficient. The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of major thermochemical conversion processes for conversion of biomass into fuels, chemicals and power.