ABSTRACT The growing environmental concerns associated with global warming along with the exponential rise in energy demand are boosting the production of clean energy. The combined process

of biomass pyrolysis and in-line catalytic steam reforming is a promising alternative for the selective production of hydrogen from renewable sources. This Primer provides a general overview

of the fundamental aspects that influence the hydrogen production potential of the process. Recent research studies and their main findings are highlighted. The current challenges and

limitations of the process and ways to optimize the biomass-derived products of steam reforming are discussed. Finally, we evaluate progress toward the industrial scalability of the process.

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This work was carried out with the financial support of grants RTI2018-101678-B-I00, RTI2018-098283-J-I00 and PID2019-107357RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF: A

way of making Europe” and the grants IT1218-19 and KK-2020/00107 funded by the Basque government. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and

innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 823745. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Basque

Country UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain Gartzen Lopez & Laura Santamaria * IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain Gartzen Lopez * School of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle

University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece Angeliki Lemonidou * School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK Shuming Zhang & Chunfei Wu *

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China Ayesha T. Sipra & Ningbo Gao Authors * Gartzen Lopez View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * Laura Santamaria View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Angeliki Lemonidou View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Shuming Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Chunfei Wu View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ayesha T. Sipra View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ningbo Gao View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS Introduction (A.L.); Experimentation (S.Z. and C.W.); Results (A.T.S. and N.G.); Applications (G.L. and

L.S.); Reproducibility and data deposition (G.L. and L.S.); Limitations and optimizations (G.L. and L.S.); Outlook (G.L. and L.S.); Overview of the Primer (G.L.). CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

Correspondence to Gartzen Lopez. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION _Nature Reviews Methods Primers_

thanks Jing-Pei Cao and Herma Setiabudi for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to

jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION GLOSSARY * Steam gasification High-temperature thermochemical

process in which a carbonaceous material is converted into synthesis gas (a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and carbon oxide) using steam as the oxidizing agent. * Flash pyrolysis Thermochemical

process in which the feedstock is rapidly heated up to moderate temperatures (400–550 °C) in the absence of air, devolatilizes and produces a liquid (the target product), gases and char. *

Steam reforming Thermochemical process for hydrogen production in which a carbonaceous feedstock reacts with water steam at temperatures of 450–800 °C in the presence of a suitable catalyst.

* Fixed-bed reactors Tubular reactor filled with feedstock and/or catalyst, in which the reactants flow through the bed to be converted into products. * Fluidized-bed reactors Type of

chemical reactor in which a solid material (usually a catalyst) is suspended by the upward flow of a fluid. * Screw-kiln reactor Type of reactor in which a screw conveyor is used to perform

chemical reactions under controlled temperature and residence time conditions. * Spouted-bed reactors Type of fluidized-bed reactor that uses a single gas inlet nozzle instead of a

distributor plate. * K-type thermocouple Type of electronic temperature sensor containing Chromel and Alumel conductors, used for monitoring high temperatures. * Cyclone Device for the

removal of particles from the fluid stream, consisting of a chamber that creates a spiral vortex whose rotational effects plus gravity are used to separate mixtures of solids and fluids. *

Venturi scrubber Gas–solid separation device in which a liquid auxiliary stream is finely pulverized using a venturi to ensure efficient particle collection. * Syngas Fuel gas mixture

produced from feedstock hydrocarbon, composed of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) as primary components and carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) as the remaining compounds. RIGHTS

AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Lopez, G., Santamaria, L., Lemonidou, A. _et al._ Hydrogen generation from biomass by pyrolysis. _Nat Rev

Methods Primers_ 2, 20 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-022-00097-8 Download citation * Accepted: 21 January 2022 * Published: 24 March 2022 * DOI:

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