Improvement in Biogas Production by Direct Interspecies Electron Transfer Technique

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste has gotten significant attention in the past few decades. However, the longer hydrolysis period and slow kinetics during anaerobic digestion of the lignocellulosic fraction of municipal solid waste limited the technology becoming widespread. A number of advances were adopted to improve the kinetics of methanogenesis. Among different techniques, the direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET) phenomenon is one of the novel techniques. In the recent past, a number of research papers have been published on improvement of biogas kinetics by using the DIET principle. However, limited review papers have been published on the current aspects and diverse prospects of DIET. This chapter starts with a brief discussion about the type of conductive material used for anaerobic digestion and discusses how the conductive materials help in DIET, the importance of substrate composition, and the loading rate on anaerobic digestion. It will help the researchers working on the application of DIET in anaerobic digestion.