Recent developments in monitoring technology for anaerobic digesters: A focus on bio-electrochemical systems

Abstract

With the increasing popularity of waste to energy conversion, demand for large-scale operation of anaerobic digestors has emerged in the market. However, the process instabilities in anaerobic digestors limit the expansion of facilities to high loading rates. The irregularities in the process can be addressed directly by altering the feedstock characteristics provided an on-hand, robust, and sensitive monitoring device is available. In this context, the bioelectrochemical system has emerged as an excellent tool for monitoring and optimizing the anaerobic process within the reactor. This article reviews the gradual evolution in techniques and approaches for monitoring of anaerobic digestion (AD) process. An analysis of the recently popular biosensing techniques has been done with a focus on the bioelectrochemical monitoring system and its operation mode. A brief attempt to highlight the current challenges in the field of bioelectrochemical process monitoring for AD has also been made, which can be supportive of future research.