Biomass is the well known renewable energy resource which has advantages of being environmentally friendly, available in large reserves, and CO2/green house gas neutral. Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a thermo-chemical conversion process under anaerobic conditions at intermediate temperatures (about 500 oC) and produces liquid product (bio-oil), solid product (biochar), and gaseous product (fuel gas). It has been recognized as one of the most important methods for biomass utilization.

In recent years, fast pyrolysis of biomass for bio-oil production has received increasing attention. Self-heating fast pyrolysis using straw as the raw material determined the yield and calorific values to be 50-55% and 15-16MJ/kg for bio-oil and 28-33% and 18-20MJ/kg for biochar, respectively; for forestry waste, bio-oil has a yield of 60-70% and calorific value of 16-17MJ/kg, while biochar has a yield of 20-25% and calorific value of 20-22MJ/kg, respectively. Bio-oil is high in energy density, low in sulfur and nitrogen content, and is easy to store, transport, and utilize. For these reasons, bio-oil is considered to be a clean fuel which can be directly used as fuel for combustion in boilers and furnaces. Once it is refined, bio-oil can also be used as engine fuel and chemical materials. In recent years, the prices of fossil fuel oils have risen with the increasing prices of crude oil. These increases have led to reduced oil resources of industrial burning oil. Hence, the market prospects of bio-oil obtained from the fast pyrolysis of biomass as fuel for industrial furnaces and oil burning boilers are promising. From the long term perspectives, bio-oil has an broader market prospect as vehicle fuels or chemical materials to produce basic chemicals.