PYROLIQ III – 2025: Pyrolysis and Liquefaction of Biomass and Wastes

An ECI Conference Series

September 14-19, 2025
Grand Hotel San Michele
Cetraro (Calabria), Italy

Conference Organization

Conference Co-Chairs

Axel Funke, KIT, Germany
Pilar Ruiz Ramiro, University of Twente, Netherland
Paola Giudicianni, Istituto di Recershe sulla Combustione, CNR, Italy
Manuel Garcia-Perez, Washington State University, US

About This Conference

Following the successful Pyroliq I and II conferences held in Cork, Ireland and Schloss Hernstein, Austria in 2019 and 2023 respectively, the Pyroliq III conference will be a forum for discussion of the recent advances in liquefaction technologies of biomass, organic residues and wastes to intermediate products like bio-oil, biochar, syngas and torrefied materials. This will include slow, intermediate and fast pyrolysis, hydropyrolysis, solvent liquefaction and hydrothermal processing. A special session will be dedicated to pyrolysis-liquefaction of wastes from fossil origin, such as plastics. The refining and/or upgrading of resulting product intermediates using standalone facilities or co-processed taking advantage of existing infrastructure will be also an important topic for this conference.

Final products are derived after proper fractionation, isolation, purification and/or upgrading, and contributions addressing the processing to marketable materials, chemicals and fuels are especially invited. This discussion will include techno-economic analyses and life cycle assessments.

The conference will also offer a platform to those who are able to report on commercially successful processes.

After the success of the first and second Pyroliq conferences, we feel that this 3^rd edition is timely, and that it will be an important event to foster friendly and deep face-to-face discussions that could further catalyze the growth of this industry. 

Main Themes and Proposed Sessions

1. Fundamentals of pyrolysis and liquefaction technologies, including lignin or cellulose depolymerization (reaction mechanisms in dry and solvent environments, reaction kinetics, product selectivity, effects of heat and mass transfer limitations, catalysis)
2. Reactor development and modelling (testing and modelling of lab-scale units)
3. Process development and integration (testing of fully continuous laboratory setups and pilot installations providing a full mass balance closure, including pre-treatment, reaction and product separation)
4. Resources and feedstock characterization and pretreatment
5. Product characterization, separation and upgrading (refers to chemical characterization, isolation, purification and post treatment / upgrading of fractions or single compounds from the first products of pyrolysis or liquefaction; this would also include catalytic hydro-processing of bio-oils)
6. Development of added-value products and market studies (heat, electricity, fuels, chemicals and materials notably from lignin)
7. Technical, economic and environmental feasibility studies
8. Novelties (integration of electrochemistry, membranes, hydrogen, fuel cells, ionic liquids, molten salts, etc.)
9. Pyrolysis or liquefaction of waste from fossil origin (e.g. plastics)
10. Successful demonstration, scale-up and commercialization

Conference Format

The format of the conference will be the “retreat-style Banff-format”. There will be no parallel sessions in order to allow all participants to be exposed and contribute to all presentations. Apart from 4 plenary lectures of 30 minutes each, the regular contributions will consist of short oral presentations (10~15 minutes + 2 min for change of speaker). Each presentation, however, will also be accompanied by a poster, to be presented normally during the social hour after dinner. The poster session will allow ample time for questions and answers and informal discussion between presenter and interested participants. Additional free-forum poster presentations will also be invited. 

Networking time is scheduled during each afternoon. This will allow participants to engage in informal discussions and to spend time together enjoying the many beautiful outdoors activities available in the region.

Conference Scientific Committee

Luis Ernesto Arteaga-Perez, University of Bio-Bio, Chile
Franco Berruti, ICFAR, Western University, Canada
Patrick Biller, Aarhus University, Denmark
Marion Carrier, CNRS, Albi, France
Farid Chejne, National University of Colombia, Colombia
Peter Ciesielski, NREL, USA
Nicolaus Dahmen, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
Benedetta De Caprariis, University La Sapienza, Italy
Anthony Dufour, CNRS, ENSIC, France
Isabel Fonts, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Erik Heeres, University of Groningen, Netherlands
George Huber, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Sascha Kersten, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Angelos Lappas, CPERI/CERTH, Greece
Dorothée Laurenti, CNRS, Lyon, France
Gatzen Lopez, University of Basque Country, Spain
Qiang Lu, North China Electric Power University, Chin
Will Meredith, University of Nottingham, UK
Charles Mullen, USDA, USA
Anja Oasmaa, VTT, Finland
Mariefel Olarte, PNNL, USA
Christoph Pfeifer, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
Wolter Prins, Gent University, Belgium
Andrea Maria Rizzo, Re-Cord, Italy
Frederik Ronsse, University of Gent, Belgium
Christopher Saffron, Michigan State University, USA
Cristian Torri, Universita’ di Bologna, Italy
Shurong Wang, Zhejiang University, China
Alberto Wisniewski, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Brazil
Hsi-Wu Wong, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA
Hongwei Wu, Curtin University, Australia

Call for Abstracts

Description of the Sessions. You may pick one or two sessions from the list above that you feel your work fits best.

• Oral Abstract deadline: March 16, 2025
• Poster Abstracts deadline:  May 15, 2025

Abstracts of all presentations will be made available to conference participants prior to the start of the conference.

Note: Only a limited number of oral presentation slots are available and thus all submissions for oral sessions will be considered for both oral and poster presentations.

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.

Venue Information

Cetraro and Grand Hotel San Michele

Cetraro Marina, a pleasant seaside resort is about two km from the Cetraro Commune of which it is a part.  The ancient Citrarium (name derived from the abundant citrus cultivation in the area) was a center of the Bruzi rising between Paola and Capo Bonifati.  Its coast location offers many interesting boat excursions.

The picturesque Grand Hotel San Michele is situated on the Tyrrhenian Coast, 120 meters above the Mediterranean Sea, with a fantastic view of Calabria’s southern coast.  It offers visitors one of the prettiest locations Southern Italy has to offer and is considered by many to be one of Calabria’s finest hotels.  Its beach (120 meters below the cliffs) is accessible only by a private special elevator.  The hotel has a swimming pool, driving range, tennis court, minigolf, piano bar and billiard room.

The hotel is surrounded by an organic farm that provides the hotel with fresh organic food.  Vegetables, fruits, olive oil, wine, milk, cheese, daily laid eggs, lamb, veal and pork meat, homemade jams and preserves are all produced on San Michele Hotel’s premises.

The acreage upon which the hotel is situated is also a bird sanctuary, where bird lovers from around Italy come to observe migratory patterns.

The maximum number of people that can be hosted in the hotel is about 80; however, there are other hotels in the area and the hotel can arrange pickups.

Transportation

By air

The most convenient airports are Lamezia Terme (87km), Naples (268km) and Rome Fiumicino or Ciampino (~470km).  Note that the hotel can arrange for pick-ups from the Lamezia Terme airport.  See below.

From Lamezia Terme Airport (SUF) to Paola

The airport is served by Air Baltic, Air France, Delta, KLM, Lufthansa, TAP and others.

1. Take the bus to Lamezia Terme Centrale train station (travel time 5min, every 30min).
2. Take the train to Paola (travel time ~30min, every couple of hours).

From Naples International Airport (NAP) to Paola

1. Take the Alibus to Napoli Centrale train station (travel time 15/20min, every 15/20min).
2. Take the train to Paola. Travel time: ~2h30 (intercity trains) to ~3h45 (local trains). Frequency: roughly every hour.

From Rome Fiumicino Airport (FCO) to Paola

1. Take the Leonardo Express train to Rome Termini train station (travel time 32min, every 30min)
2. Take the train to Paola (either direct or with a change in Naples). Travel time: ~3h to 4h (high-speed trains), ~5h to 5h30 (intercity trains). Frequency: roughly every hour

By train

The nearest major train station is Paola (25km) where all the fast trains make a stop

Italian train tickets can be booked with Trenitalia ( https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html) 

If you are arriving by a local train from Naples, you can simply get off directly at Cetraro.

By auto

Use the Motorway Roma – Caserta Sud – Salarno – Lagonegro Nord – Fondo Valle Noce. (293 km)

Shuttle services

Lamezia Airport:

1. Car (3 pax): € 112 each way (Single passengers pay full euro 112 rate; two pay 56 euro each)
2. Minibus (8 pax): € 140 each way

Paola train station: 

1. Car (3 pax): € 55 each way
2. Minibus (8 pax): € 85 each way

Cetraro Train Station:

1. Car (3 pax): € 25 each way
2. Minibus (8 pax): € 40 each way

For night shuttle services (between 1.00 am and 6.30 am) there is a € 35 supplementNote:  To facilitate shared trips to the hotel from the Lamezia Terme Airport and both trains stations, please see Ground Transportation Reservation information below and send your information to the hotel by March 20.  

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.