Biogas production by anaerobic digestion: Status and perspectives

Abstract

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Anaerobic digestion (AD) has gained significant attention in recent years. In addition to producing renewable energy and bio-based chemicals from diverse organic feedstock, AD process also remediates organic waste streams along with curtailing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. Operational conditions and anaerobic reactor configurations are continuously being refined to facilitate the growth, activity, and synergetic interaction of diverse microbial communities in the AD process. The applications of AD technology diversify from household system producing biogas for cooking, lighting and biofertilizer to industrial-scale digester generating electricity and transportation fuels, and anaerobic biorefinery producing biochemicals and bio-based products. This chapter covers the fundamental aspects of the AD process for bioenergy and bio-based product generation. The chapter also covers the anaerobic biorefinery concept from various feedstocks. The chapter concludes with future perspectives of AD technology.