ABSTRACT
Environmental awareness, an increasing demand for fuels and chemicals, and depleting fossil resources drive the quest for alterative and renewable methods to produce fuels and chemicals. This chapter discusses the advantages and challenges of conversion of biomass to liquid bio-oil for fuel and chemical applications. Moreover, recently commercialized processes that can be integrated in existing petrochemical complexes have been addressed. The focus hereby is on processes that start from lignocellulosic biomass and/or triglyceride-based biomass to form bio-based hydrocarbons and base chemicals, such as ethene, propene, and aromatics. Detailed information is provided about the process conditions, applied catalysts, reactor technologies, kinetics models, and the industrial applicability of both thermochemical and direct catalytic conversion of biomass.
