BACKGROUND: The production of chemicals and functional materials from renewable biomass resources has received considerable interest. In this study, rapid pyrolysis was conducted using pulse-current heating for simultaneous production of aromatic chemicals and functional char. Japanese cedarwoodwas pyrolyzed at various temperatures by pulse-current heating, and compositional and structural changes in the degraded productswere characterized using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, and carbon/hydrogen/nitrogen analysis. RESULTS: It was found that ammonia was adsorbed on the char obtained from pyrolysis at 500 degrees C and observed a sharp dependence of the adsorptivity on the pyrolysis temperature. Under these conditions, phenolic compounds such as guaiacol, catechol, 4-vinyl guaiacol, and vanillin were produced as themajor components of the pyrolysis oil. Deoxygenation proceeded linearly as a function of pyrolysis temperature, and pyrolysis at 800 degrees C produced aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, acenaphthylene, anthracene, pyrene, and platform chemicals such as benzene, toluene, and styrene. CONCLUSION: The functionality of residual char as an ammonia adsorbent and the coproduction of aromatic chemicals is reported as a new process designed for efficient use of woody biomass. (C) 2016 Society of Chemical Industry