Role of Additives on Anaerobic Digestion, Biomethane Generation, and Stabilization of Process Parameters

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a globally accepted and adopted technology for the conversion of organic material into green fuel. However, the lack of system process stability, lower biomethane generation, and digester efficiency are some of the major setbacks for the biochemical processes involved in the AD process. In recent years, there has been a lot of curiosity shown by researchers focussed on tackling these challenges through various strategies. Among them, the introduction of enhancing additives in the AD process has received broader research attention. The enhancing additives (metallic, biological, carbon, and alkali-based) with their abundant rejuvenating properties are reported to easily fix the associated issues within the AD process. The metallic additives improved the microbial synergy and interspecies electron transfer that improved the process and biomethane production. Bioaugmentation through biological additives includes different enzymes and microbial consortium, boosting the weakened microbial activity under stressed environments. The enhancing carriers based on carbon, clay, and other natural materials are also known to enhance the AD process performance. This chapter enumerates the role of different enhancing additives in the AD process. The chapter deeply discusses the science behind the introduction of various enhancing additives in an AD environment in detail.