Corn stover, which is one of the most abundant agricultural residues around the world, could be converted
into valuable biofuels and bio based products by means of microwave pyrolysis. After the reaction
at the microwave power level of 500W for the processing time of 30 min, the reaction performance
under N2 atmosphere was generally better than under CO2 atmosphere. This may be due to the better
heat absorbability of CO2 molecules to reduce the heat for stover pyrolysis. Most of the metal-oxide catalysts
effectively increased the maximum temperature and mass reduction ratio but lowered the calorific
values of solid residues. The gas most produced was CO under N2 atmosphere but CO2 under CO2 atmosphere.
Catalyst addition lowered the formation of PAHs and thus made liquid products less toxic. More
liquid products and less gas products were generated when using the catalysts possibly due to the existence
of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis.