Review of thermal processing of biomass and waste in molten salts for production of renewable fuels and chemicals

Renewable energy has gained great attention and interest in recent years due to growing energy consumption and greater environmental concerns. Biomass is regarded as a promising candidate for replacing fossil-derived products, through either thermal, biological, or physical processes. This review focuses on thermal processing of biomass in molten salts for production of renewable fuels and chemicals, concepts based on dispersion of biomass or waste particles in a molten salt bath. Inorganic salts have very high heat capacities and good thermal stability at high temperatures. Some molten salts have catalytic properties, and in thermal processing of biomass, the product yields and compound compositions of products can be adjusted by varying compositions and amount of molten salts. In addition, molten salts will retain noxious contaminants, and it is thus possible to use difficult convertible- and/or contaminated biomass as feedstock. Copyright , Oxford University Press.