Anaerobic Digestion Process and Biogas Production

Globally, there is increasing awareness that large amounts of organic wastes worldwide propose urgent and huge pressure for environmental protection. Anaerobic digestion (AD) technology is a promising process of biogas production which can change the complex organic wastes into a clean and renewable source of energy. AD technology is a reliable alternative option to resolve the disadvantages of single-substrate digestion system related to substrate characteristics and system optimization. This chapter reviewed the research progress and fundamental mechanisms and proposed basic affecting parameters of AD technology. Besides, several current challenges of AD technology, including ammonia inhibition, volatile fatty acids inhibition, and psychrophilic temperature inhibition, were also analyzed. Furthermore, using advanced technologies such as co-digestion, bioaugmentation, and bioelectronchemical bioelectrochemical technology can accelerate the transformation of organic wastes to industrializations, and realize a significant improvement in biogas production. Finally, this chapter also evaluates the techno-economic and environmental impacts of AD technology and its emerging application for biogas production to make the integrated process more economical and environmentally sustainable, designing and developing a framework for future studies.