Biomass-->Pyrolysis-->Biocrude

Forget about burning food. Any kind of biomass--including garbage--can produce biocrude. Biocrude is similar to crude oil. It can be refined to the desired hydrocarbon product.

Pyrolysis is a process in which organic materials - any type of biomass - are heated in absence of air in a reactor (schematic, click to enlarge). Under these conditions, organic vapours, pyrolysis gases and charcoal are produced. Depending on the residence time and the temperature to which the biomass is exposed, varying amounts of these products are obtained.... Under fast pyrolysis (temperatures of 450 - 600 °C), the vapours are condensed to bio-oil and typically, 70-75 wt.% of the feedstock is converted into this oil (also known as 'biocrude' or 'pyrolysis oil').__Biopact

Biocrude projects are proceeding at full speed in Europe, Australia, and North America. The main problem remaining to be solved, is the wide dispersal of biomass. It costs energy to collect and concentrate biomass--to bring it to the central pyrolysis station.

Fortunately, pyrolysis is a scalable process. The pyrolysis infrastructure can be built closer to the source of biomass, and the resulting oil can be transported in bulk via pipeline, river barge, or rail, to refineries.

Currently, political obstructionists have prevented construction of refineries. The bottleneck in hydrocarbon refining keeps costs high to end consumers. We can hope that the obstructionists who prevent energy refining and new energy exploration, will relent in the case of biomass to biocrude to bio-refinery.