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China began conducting research on the utilization of biomass energy starting from the Sixth Five-Year Plan period; initially, biogas technology was the focus. After the Eighth Five-Year Plan, biomass pyrolysis and gasification technologies became the main areas of interest. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, the 863 Program provided significant funding for research in biomass gasification for power generation as well as biomass liquefaction. Future research will focus on the production and use of biomass liquid fuels; To date, biomass energy research in our country has mainly focused on individual technologies, with uneven levels of technical development across different areas. Applied research centered on biogas and gasification technologies has advanced to an international advanced level due to the long duration of such efforts and the favorable market conditions in our country; however, other technologies are still in their infancy or do not yet exist at all. In our country, research on energy plants currently focuses mainly on firewood forests, with very little research conducted on plants intended for energy production; there is still a significant gap compared to developed countries in Europe and America. To achieve industrial-scale development of biomass energy resources in the future, it is necessary to strengthen research on energy crops. Based on the ecogeographic distribution patterns of plants in our country, various environmentally friendly and high-efficiency energy crops suitable for these conditions should be selected and cultivated, while also optimizing the nationwide distribution and production pattern of such energy crops. The South China Institute of Botany has carried out extensive research and development work in the areas of high-yield crop breeding and ecological environment, achieving certain results. This provides a theoretical and practical foundation for evaluating, selecting, and improving energy crops. Over the past decade or so, our country has carried out extensive research and development in the conversion and utilization of biomass as an energy source. Although there is still a gap compared to developed countries, significant achievements have been made. The Guangzhou Institute of Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been engaged in the research and development of biomass gasification and liquefaction technologies for a long time. It possesses a solid theoretical foundation and extensive practical experience, and has achieved numerous research results as well as successful industrial applications. However, the main problem with conventional biomass gasification technologies is the low calorific value of the gas produced, as well as the large amount of tar generated during the gasification process, which makes gas purification difficult and affects the proper operation of internal combustion engines or gas turbines. Foreign studies have employed catalytic cracking or high-temperature cracking to reduce tar content, but these methods are complex and costly. How to completely eliminate tar from biomass during gasification is a research topic of great practical significance. The biooil produced through the rapid pyrolysis of biomass is completely different from the oils manufactured in the petrochemical industry. The chemical composition of biooil obtained from the rapid pyrolysis of biomass such as wood powder, which is primarily composed of cellulose, includes depolymerized lignin, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, sugars, alcohols, and water. The properties and stability of biooil vary significantly depending on the processing conditions and the type of biomass used. To obtain qualified fuels and chemical products from biooil, further research is needed in areas such as refining (catalytic hydrogenation and catalytic cracking) and storage and transportation. The Institute of Chemical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, East China University of Science and Technology, and Nanjing Institute of Forestry Chemistry have all carried out research in this area and achieved initial results. In the areas of biomass gasification and liquefaction, institutions such as Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, the Chengdu Institute of Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Shandong Energy Research Institute have also carried out extensive research. Research in recent years on plasma technology for the pyrolysis of coal and natural gas to produce acetylene has shown that the gasification products exist in a solid phase and a gaseous phase, without any tar. At present, there is still limited basic research on biomass plasma gasification in China. The high oxygen content in biomass facilitates the production of syngas (CO + H2). The low nitrogen and sulfur contents, along with the absence of impurities such as CO2 and CH4 in the plasma gasification gases, significantly reduce the costs associated with gas purification, thereby creating favorable conditions for syngas production. Unlike conventional biomass gasification for producing combustible gases, plasma gasification aims to produce syngas of high quality, thereby improving resource utilization and offering the potential for good economic benefits; however, this technology is still in the research phase. Ethanol production from biomass primarily relies on fermentation, and traditional batch fermentation has now been replaced by various continuous fermentation processes. The new fixed yeast fluidized bed fermentation process is a high-tech biotechnology in the world today. Compared with batch fermentation and single-concentration continuous fermentation, it offers advantages such as faster speed, shorter fermentation cycles, higher yields, fewer processing equipment, and easier implementation of continuity and automation. Its ability to produce alcohol is 10 to 20 times that of batch fermentation. Alcohol production from the sap of sweet sorghum stalks using immobilized yeast bioreactors, developed by institutions such as Shenyang Agricultural University, employs advanced processes. In particular, the conical three-stage fluidized bed bioreactor offers advantages such as good fluidization performance, high mass transfer efficiency, short fermentation time, and easy CO2 removal. The sugar conversion rate reaches 92% of the theoretical value, while the ethanol yield is 22 g/L·h, both of which are at international advanced levels. They have also conducted systematic research on the substitution of or partial replacement of engine fuels such as gasoline and diesel with ethanol. However, the conversion of cellulose-based biomass, which accounts for a large proportion of biomass, into alcohol remains a technically and economically intractable problem worldwide. The complexity of bioconverting cellulose-based feedstocks into alcohol stems from their multi-component nature and structural stability. Decades of research have shown that success is difficult to achieve relying on a single discipline; these issues involve intersections across multiple disciplines, and significant new breakthroughs are necessary in fundamental research at several key stages. The solid-state fermentation pure culture technology developed by the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is at the international leading level; 10 patents have been applied for regarding straw steam explosion and the full utilization of biomass. The conversion of biomass into syngas (CO+H2), followed by catalytic transformation to produce clean fuels such as gasoline and diesel, as well as oxygen-containing additives for fuels like methanol and dimethyl ether, represents the liquefaction of biomass. The syngas obtained by gasification is converted into hydrocarbon feedstocks through Fischer-Tropsch synthesis; the heavy fractions in these hydrocarbon feedstocks are then transformed into high-quality clean diesel and lubricant base oils with high viscosity indices through chemical processes such as hydrocracking and hydroisomerization, before they can be used in engines. The Catalysis Research Institute at Zhejiang University has many years of experience in basic research on C1 catalytic conversion as well as in research related to the industrial application of catalysts. A fixed-bed catalytic reactor was used, along with a self-developed Cu-based catalyst, to carry out research on the synthesis of DME using semi-water gas as the feedstock. The one-pass conversion rate of CO reached 83%, while the selectivity for DME/DME+MeOH was approximately 95%. An industrial pilot plant with a capacity of 5 t/d was also established. Although China has conducted years of research on Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, it has not yet been industrialized. The development of catalysts and the research and development of reactor systems are key to advancing this process. In particular, given the characteristics of biomass syngas such as its gas composition and tar content, it is necessary to study the reaction mechanisms and modify existing technologies and catalysts in order to improve product quality and the economic viability of the process, which is essential if industrialization is to be achieved. In short, although there is some research in China on the gasification and liquefaction of biomass to produce liquid fuels, the scale of such research is small and lacks systematicity. Many theoretical issues remain unresolved, especially with regard to the purification of biomass gas and the refining of bio-oil. To improve the efficiency of converting biomass into high-quality gaseous and liquid fuels, and to promote the industrialization of biomass as a substitute for fossil fuels, it is essential to conduct systematic research on these processes in order to address the fundamental theoretical and scientific issues that hinder these critical processes.