Finding low-cost and environmentally friendly precursors that can maintain their electrochemical attraction natural texture properties while obtaining hierarchical porous carbons with high electrochemical performance is desirable for offering a leap forward in industrial applications. However, phenomena associated with the high microporosity of porous carbon remain. Herein, the protective effect of hydrothermal methods and the micropore-forming ability of KOH were used. The as-synthesized porous carbon (PC-1) holds the natural texture property (the retention of texture property with apertures higher than 2 nm was up to 80%) and achieves three-dimensional (3D) architecture with hierarchical structures accompanied by an ultrahigh specific surface area (3559.45 m²/g). Benefiting from its texture properties, PC-1 possesses a high specific capacitance of 288.75 F/g at 0.5 A/g, excellent rate capability as high as 223.72 F/g at 10 A/g, and remarkable conductivity in a three-electrode system with a 6 M KOH electrolyte. In view of its environment friendliness, low cost, and excellent specific capacitance, PC-1 has promising applications in high-performance supercapacitors.

Biomass gasification represents a significant way to produce energy from biomass. It features renewable properties and offers great potential for utilization. The application of biomass gasification products, design of the gasifier, type of biomass feedstock, gasification agents, and gasification parameters are key for the biomass gasification process. This work applies bibliometric approaches to provide a comprehensive and objective analysis of worldwide biomass gasification study trends over the period from 2006 to 2020 according to the Web Of Science core collection data. A total of 3222 articles associated with biomass gasification was retrieved, and its number grew annually. The subjects of study are diversified, primarily classified into “Energy & Fuels”, “Engineering Chemical”, and “Green Sustainable Science Technology”. Moreover, Energy was a top published journal in the field of biomass gasification. Austrian contributors had the majority of publications, next to China and the USA. Liejin Luo from Xi’an Jiaotong University possessed the greatest H-index. Keyword evaluation showed that biomass gasification is a current hotspot, among which life-cycle assessment, sustainability, and deep processing of gasification products are future research directions. This work is predicted to offer further research interest in biomass gasification.

To further understand the element migration characteristics and product properties during biomass pyrolysis, herein, pine cone (PC) cellulose and PC lignin were prepared, and their pyrolysis behavior was determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Subsequently, the PC was pyrolyzed in a vertical fixed bed reactor system at 400–700 °C for 60 min. The characteristics of element migration and the physicochemical properties of the pyrolysis products were analyzed and discussed. In the pyrolysis temperature range from 200 °C to 500 °C, there were two distinct weight loss peaks for PC. During the pyrolysis process, the C element was primarily retained in the biochar, while the O element mainly migrated into liquid and gaseous products in the form of compounds such as CO₂, CO, and H₂O. Besides, 28.42–76.01% of the N element in PC migrated into biochar. Of the three-phase products, the gases endow the lowest energy yield, while the energy of the biochar dominates the pyrolysis of the PC. Additionally, the N content and specific surface area for the PC-derived biochar obtained at 400 °C in a N₂ atmosphere were higher than those of the biochar derived from fiberboard.

Biomass, as a renewable and clean energy resource, plays a vital role in energy security and greenhouse gas reduction across the world. This paper reports on our newly established technology: a downdraft fixed-bed biomass gasification system using nut shells (mainly apricot kernel shells) for electricity generation, heating and partially activated carbon production at the same time. Particularly, the key features of the gasification reactor will be presented in detail. In the commercial plant (3 MW scale) located in Hebei province, China, the typical energy conversion from apricot kernel shell gasification is as follows: 47% syngas, 44% char (partially activated carbon), 5% hot water, and 4% energy loss. The main gasification temperature is 600–800 °C, while the activation zone is 850–900 °C. The commercial system has currently been in operation for 4 years. Considering the partially activated carbon as a stable carbon carrier, the whole system features negative CO₂ emissions.

The environment has been heavily contaminated with tetracycline (TC) due to its excessive use; however, activated carbon possessing well-developed pores can effectively adsorb TC. This study synthesized pinecone-derived activated carbon (PAC) with high specific surface area (1744.659 cm²/g, 1688.427 cm²/g) and high adsorption properties (840.62 mg/g, 827.33 mg/g) via hydrothermal pretreatment methods utilizing pinecones as precursors. The results showed that PAC treated with 6% KOH solution had excellent adsorption properties. It is found that the adsorption process accords with the PSO model, and a large amount of C=C in PAC provides the carrier for π-πEDA interaction. The results of characterization and the isothermal model show that TC plays a key role in the adsorption process of PAC. It is concluded that the adsorption process of TC on PAC prepared by hydrothermal pretreatment is mainly pore filling and π-πEDA interaction, which makes it a promising adsorbent for TC adsorption.