Display omitted •The decomposition of DR was divided into five main pseudo-reactions.•Gaseous N was mainly produced by decomposing protein-containing material in the DR.•DR-derived biochar has potential as an adsorbent due to the quality improvement.•High safety of heavy metals from biochar obtained by DR pyrolysis. The current work has examined the pyrolytic properties, product formation mechanisms, biochar properties, and heavy metal (HMs) safety of biochar during food waste digestate residue (DR) pyrolysis. The results have shown that DR pyrolysis proceeded in five stages. The kinetic model for Stages 1, 3 and 4 was the simple reaction order model, the one-dimensional diffusion model for Stage 2, and the three-dimensional (Jander) diffusion model for Stage 5. Based on thermogravimetric-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TG-FTIR) and pyrolysis–gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GCMS) analysis, the volatile components of the DR pyrolysis were mainly produced by the Maillard, decarboxylation, and deamination reactions as H2O, CH4, CO2, CO, phenol, CO (anhydride/ketone/aldehyde), C-O and NH3. While there were six main components of the pyrolysis oil, that is, amines and amides, nitriles, N-hybrid compounds, oxides, and sulfides. Appropriate aromatic properties were observed in the prepared biochar, and the biochar obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 700 °C had a relatively high specific surface area. The HMs results showed that the HMs in biochar obtained from DR pyrolysis at 400, 500, 600, 700, and 800 °C were predominantly in the oxidizable and residual fractions. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) tests and the potential ecological risk indices for HMs have indicated a high safety profile for biochar. This work has elucidated the formation process of DR pyrolysis products and the physicochemical properties and safety of biochar. It has also provided an outlet for the application of biochar, which provides a strong contribution to promoting resource use of DR.