IIT Madras develops microwave technology to produce bio-oils

In India, the Indian Asian News Service reports that researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have developed a microwave to produce bio-oils. The researchers used agricultural waste such as rice straw and bagasse and discarded plastics as feedstock for the technology development. They say pyrolysis technologies result in bio-oils with high oxygenate levels but the microwave process creates oils with much lower oxygenate levels, further enhanced by the hydrogen that is released when using plastic feedstocks together with biomass-based feedstocks.