Editorial pubs.acs.org/journal/ascecg
Computational Studies of Pyrolysis and Upgrading of Bio-oils: Virtual Special Issue
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bring valuable biomass pyrolysis and bio-oil upgrading insights to the scientific and industrial communities.
ith the increased concern on energy security and environmental sustainability, searching for renewable and clean energies has become more urgent. Biomass, with its abundant supply across the world and nearly neutral greenhouse gas emission, has been viewed as one of the most attractive resources for renewable and clean energy production. Biomass pyrolysis, an advanced technology that has the capacity to convert a large amount of nonfood, low-energy-density raw biomass into high-energy-density transportation fuel within short processing times, has moved to the forefront of biomass thermochemical conversion in the past decade. Multiple governments have included the production of bio-oil through biomass pyrolysis as part of their strategic energy plans. The United States Department of Energy (USDOE) has also set the goal to substitute biomass derived fuels for at least 36 billion gallons of petroleum by 2022. As part of this integrated effort, in 2013 USDOE launched the “Consortium for Computational Physics and Chemistry (CCPC),” spanning five national laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. CCPC utilizes unique DOE computational modeling, experimental facilities, and experience in order to accelerate the discovery and deployment of new technologies and materials for biomass pyrolysis in support of the petroleum substitution initiative. Research activities in these five national laboratories span a wide spectrum of computational and experimental topics, from nanoscale design and discovery of the next-generation of durable and cost-effective catalysts, to reactor- and process-scale analysis, scale-up, integration and operation. As research activities continue, our understanding of biomass pyrolysis has been significantly elevated and we sought to arrange this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering to report recent progress on computational and experimental studies of biomass pyrolysis. Beyond highlighting the five national laboratories’ advancements, prestigious researchers in the field of biomass pyrolysis have been invited to report their most recent activities. The current “Computational Studies of Pyrolysis and Upgrading of Bio-oils” VSI collection features 1 Perspective and 11 Articles [http://pubs. acs.org/page/ascecg/vi/computational-pyrolysis.html], with topics ranging from high-fidelity particle-scale computational fluid dynamics simulation of biomass pyrolysis to technoeconomic analysis of bio-oil refinery operation, as well as pyrolysis reaction kinetics and advanced experimental characterization of biomass particles and bio-oil. We want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the authors and reviewers of these contributions, the editorial team at ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, and specifically, Professor David T. Allen and Dr. Rhea Williams for their efforts on behalf of this VSI. We would be glad to see the continued advancement of biomass pyrolysis and hope that this VSI can © 2017 American Chemical Society
Qingang Xiong Oak Ridge National Laboratory, United States
David J. Robichaud
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National Renewable Energy Laboratory, United States
AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Qingang Xiong: 0000-0002-8484-6163 Present Address
Q. Xiong’s current affiliation is Corning Incorporated, but CCPC work was performed while the author was a research associate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
Received: March 15, 2017 Published: March 23, 2017 2782
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.7b00805 ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2017, 5, 2782−2782
