With the increasingly serious energy crisis, the development of renewable clean energy as a substitute for fossil energy has always been the focus of scientific research. Biomass energy is the most promising alternative to fossil energy. This paper discusses the current situation and shortcomings of biomass energy utilization in five aspects: the source of biomass energy raw materials, the treatment of raw materials, biomass conversion technology, the application of biomass energy, and the development prospect of biomass energy. Although biomass energy research is booming, there are still some areas where improvements can be made: plants can be built close to the source of the feedstock to reduce feedstock costs; microalgae do not take up land and are a viable feedstock; feedstock pre-treatment needs to balance benefits and costs; for the choice of biomass conversion technology, a combination of biochemical and thermochemical conversion may be a good option; the application side of biomass energy can be biorefined to improve production efficiency, in addition, biofuel cells have great potential for development. This study aims to provide a theoretical basis and reference for the optimisation of existing technologies and future research and development of biomass energy.

biomass energy  /  biomass treatment  /  bioethanol  /  biodiesel  /  biogas  /  biological fuel cells