An ECI Conference Series
September 5 – 9, 2027
Kloster Irsee, Irsee (Bavaria), Germany
About This Conference
Following the successful Pyroliq I to III conferences held in Cork, Ireland (2019), Schloss Hernstein, Austria (2023), and Cetraro, Italy (2025), Pyroliq IV will be hosted at the historic Kloster Irsee in Bavaria. The conference will be a forum for discussion of recent advances in liquefaction technologies of biomass, plastics, tires or other wastes to intermediate products like bio-oil, biochar, and syngas, for applications in advanced biofuels, chemicals, materials, and durable carbon removal. This will include slow, intermediate, and fast pyrolysis, hydropyrolysis, solvent liquefaction, and hydrothermal processing, with a primary focus on the liquid products produced as well as the technologies (hydrotreatment, separations) to convert these liquids into fuels and chemicals.
The field has taken on new strategic significance since the last edition. Chemical, refining, and energy industries worldwide face acute pressure from elevated crude oil prices and intensified competition. A new generation of regulatory and market mechanisms: the US Inflation Reduction Act, the EU's RED III and ReFuelEU Aviation, Canada's Clean Fuel Regulations, and fast-growing carbon-removal markets are creating durable demand pull for liquefaction-derived fuels, chemicals, and carbon-removal products. Resilient value chains built on biomass, residue, and waste feedstocks are increasingly recognised as essential to industrial competitiveness, supply security, and decarbonisation worldwide.
Dedicated sessions will continue to address the liquefaction of wastes from fossil origin, such as plastics, and the broader portfolio of complex waste streams (tyres, textiles, mixed and contaminated residues) now becoming relevant. Refining and upgrading of product intermediates, in standalone facilities or co-processed in existing refinery and petrochemical infrastructure, remain an important topic. Final products are derived after proper fractionation, isolation, purification, and/or upgrading, and contributions addressing the routes to marketable fuels, chemicals, and materials are especially invited, including techno-economic analyses, life-cycle assessments, and regulatory pathway evaluations. The conference will also offer a platform to those able to report on commercially successful processes. Special sessions will be dedicated to the characterization and molecular representation of these oils.
After the success of the first three Pyroliq conferences, we feel that this 4th edition is particularly timely, and that it will be an important event to foster the friendly, deep, face-to-face discussions that could further catalyse the growth of this industry at a moment of particular strategic relevance.
Main Themes and Proposed Sessions
- Fundamentals of pyrolysis and liquefaction technologies (reaction mechanisms in dry and solvent environments, reaction kinetics, product selectivity, effects of heat and mass transfer, catalysis)
- Reactor development, modelling, and digital tools (molecular representation of oil chemistry, testing and modelling of lab-scale units, machine learning, digital twins)
- Process development, integration, electrification, and co-processing (continuous laboratory and pilot installations with full mass balance closure; electrified reactors and Power-to-X-coupled liquefaction; co-processing in existing refinery and chemical infrastructure)
- Resources, feedstock characterisation, and pretreatment, including waste, residue, and circular feedstock streams
- Product characterisation, separation, and upgrading (chemical characterisation, isolation, purification, and post-treatment, including catalytic hydro-processing of bio-oils)
- Sustainable aviation fuels and renewable transport fuels from pyrolysis and liquefaction routes
- Techno-economic and life-cycle assessment, market studies, and added-value products (TEA, LCA, carbon intensity, and regulatory pathways; markets for heat, electricity, fuels, chemicals, and materials, notably from lignin)
- Biogenic carbon removal and durable carbon storage (carbon-negative biofuels, biochar, biocoke, BiCRS pathways, EU CRCF-aligned product routes)
- Plastic chemical recycling via pyrolysis and liquefaction (selective conversion of plastic waste into monomers, chemicals, and circular carbon feedstocks to enhance carbon circularity and reduce fossil resource dependence)
- Successful demonstration, scale-up, and commercialisation
Publications
With permission of the authors, the PowerPoint presentations delivered at the Conference will be included in the ECI Digital Archives.
The participants will be invited to submit a full paper on a special issue that is being organized with Energy & Fuels.
Conference Organization
Conference Co-Chairs
Benedetta De Caprariis, University La Sapienza, Italy
Patrick Biller, Aarhus University, Denmark
Manuel Garcia-Perez, Washington State University, US
Conference Scientific Committee
Franco Berruti, ICFAR, Western University, Canada
Patrick Biller, Aarhus University, Denmark
Marion Carrier, CNRS, Albi, France
Farid Chejne, National University of Colombia, Colombia
Nicolaus Dahmen, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Benedetta De Caprariis, University La Sapienza, Italy
Anthony Dufour, CNRS, ENSIC, France
Stefanie Eiden, Covestro, Germany
Pienihäkkinen Elmeri, VTT, Finland
Isabel Fonts, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Paola Giudicianni, CNR-STEMS, Italy
Songbo He, DICP, CAS, Dalian, China
Erik Heeres, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Anker D. Jensen, DTU, Denmark
Tooran Khazraie, Valmet, Finland
Sascha Kersten, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Shogo Kumagai, Tohoku University, Japan
Angelos Lappas, CPERI/CERTH, Greece
Dorothée Laurenti, CNRS, Lyon, France
Gartzen Lopez, University of Basque Country, Spain
Will Meredith, University of Nottingham, UK
Charles Mullen, USDA, USA
Mariefel Olarte, PNNL, USA
Christoph Pfeifer, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Andrea Maria Rizzo, Re-Cord, Italy
Frederik Ronsse, University of Gent, Belgium
Pilar Ruiz, University of Maastricht, Netherlands
Linda Sandström, RISE institute of Sweden AB, Sweden
Cristian Torri, Universita’ di Bologna, Italy
Alberto Wisniewski, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil
Hsi-Wu Wong, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
Hongwei Wu, Curtin University, Australia
Past Conferences in This Series
Pyroliq 2019: Pyrolysis and Liquefaction of Biomass and Wastes
June 16-20, 2019
Cork, Ireland
Conference Chairs:
Franco Berruti, ICFAR, Western University, Canada
Anthony Dufour, CNRS Nancy, France
Wolter Prins, University of Ghent, Belgium
Manuel Garcia-Pérez, Washington State University, USA
Pyroliq II - 2023: Pyrolysis and Liquefaction of Biomass and Wastes
May 7-12, 2023
Schloss Hernstein (near Vienna), Austria
Conference Chairs:
Franco Berruti, ICFAR, Western University, Canada
Anthony Dufour, CNRS Nancy, France
Wolter Prins, University of Ghent, Belgium
Manuel Garcia-Pérez, Washington State University, USA
Pyroliq III - 2025: Pyrolysis and Liquefaction of Biomass and Wastes
September 14-19, 2025
Grand Hotel San Michele, Cetraro, Calabria, Italy
Conference Chairs:
Axel Funke, KIT, Germany
Pilar Ruiz Ramiro, University of Twente, Netherland
Paola Giudicianni, Institute of Science and Technology for Sustainable Energy and Mobility - CNR - Italy
Manuel Garcia-Perez, Washington State University, USA
Conference programs are available in Past Conferences.
General Information about ECI
Engineering Conferences International (ECI) is a not-for-profit, global engineering conferences program, originally established in 1962 that provides opportunities for the exploration of problems and issues of concern to engineers and scientists from many disciplines.
The format of the conference provides morning and late afternoon or evening sessions in which major presentations are made. Poster sessions will be scheduled for evening discussion as well. Available time is included during the afternoons for ad hoc meetings, informal discussions, and/or recreation. This format is designed to enhance rapport among participants and promote dialogue on the development of the meeting. We believe the conferences have been instrumental in generating ideas and disseminating information to a greater extent than is possible through more conventional forums.
All participants are expected both to attend the entire conference and to contribute actively to the discussions. The recording/photographing of lectures and presentations is forbidden. As ECI conferences take place in an informal atmosphere, casual clothing is the usual attire.
Smoking is prohibited at ECI conferences and conference functions.