Recent Advances in Solid Residues Resource Utilization in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine is widely employed in illness prevention and treatment. In recent years, the increased demand for Chinese medicine resources has resulted in a large quantity of waste created during industrialization. However, traditional methods for treating herbal residues, including burning, stacking, and burying, can cause significant environmental damage and resource waste. Furthermore, these application approaches have a low level of resource utilization and a low degree of utilization. Therefore, developing a classification management system is a necessary precondition for reusing Chinese herb residues for medicinal, feed, fertilizer, and energy resource reuse. This paper reviews the potential applications of Chinese herb residues in the extraction of active resources, composting, feed addition, bioethanol preparation, and pyrolysis to biochar, bio-oil, and fuel gas. Overall, this work provides a foundation for further investigation into the high-value usage model and resource reuse pathway of Chinese herb residues.