Anaerobic co-digestion of agricultural wastes toward circular bioeconomy

Shu-Yuan Pan; Cheng-Yen Tsai; Chen-Wuing Liu; Sheng-Wei Wang; Hyunook Kim; Chihhao Fan

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102704

Anaerobic co-digestion of agricultural wastes toward circular bioeconomy

iScience. 2021 Jun 10;24(7):102704. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102704. eCollection 2021 Jul 23.

Authors

Shu-Yuan Pan¹, Cheng-Yen Tsai², Chen-Wuing Liu¹, Sheng-Wei Wang³, Hyunook Kim⁴, Chihhao Fan¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC).
² Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (ROC).
³ Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Tamkang University, New Taipei City 25137, Taiwan (ROC).
⁴ Department of Environmental Engineering, The University of Seoul, 163, Seoulsiripdae‑ro, Dongdaemun‑gu, Seoul 02504, South Korea.

Abstract

A huge amount of agricultural wastes and waste activated-sludge are being generated every year around the world. Anaerobic co-digestion (AcD) has been considered as an alternative for the utilization of organic matters from such organic wastes by producing bioenergy and biochemicals to realize a circular bioeconomy. Despite recent advancement in AcD processes, the effect of feedstock compositions and operating conditions on the biomethane production processe has not been critically explored. In this paper, we have reviewed the effects of feedstock (organic wastes) characteristics, including particle size, carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, and pretreatment options, on the performance of an anaerobic digestion process. In addition, we provided an overview of the effect of key control parameters, including retention time, temperature, pH of digestate, volatile fatty acids content, total solids content, and organic loading rate. Lastly, based on the findings from the literature, we have presented several perspectives and prospects on priority research to promote AcD to a steppingstone for a circular bioeconomy.

Keywords: Applied microbiology; Biotechnology; Chemical engineering; Microbiology; Sustainability aspects of food production.

Publication types

Review