Abstract
The depletion of fossil fuels has led to a search for new methods of fuel and chemical production from biomass. One of the methods of converting biomass into valuable products is the process of pyrolysis. This process has been extensively researched in recent years due to the rising prices of energy and chemicals. This work contains basic information on the pyrolysis process concerning the individual components present in the biomass and the types of biomass used in the pyrolysis process. Particular attention was paid to sewage sludge, the management of which is a big challenge. The influence of the most important process parameters (temperature, heating rate, residence time of the solid and vapor, reaction atmosphere) on the pyrolysis products (char, oil, and gas) was presented. The paper presents an overview of the reactors used in the pyrolysis process, from slow to fast pyrolysis, together with their efficiency, advantages, and disadvantages. The analysis of the application of other thermochemical processes for producing the energy used in the process of pyrolysis and in the drying of the biomass was carried out. Two industrial-scale installations for the pyrolysis of sewage sludge were presented.