Biogas Production from Organic Wastes: Integrating Concepts of Circular Economy

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is traditionally used for treating organic materials. This allows the valorization of biogas and recycling of nutrients thanks to the land application of digestates. However, although this technology offers a multitude of advantages, it is still far from playing a relevant role in the energy market and from having significant participation in decarbonizing the economy. Biogas can be submitted to upgrading processes to reach methane content close to that of natural gas and therefore be compatible with many of its industrial applications. However, the high installation and operating costs of these treatment plants are the main constraints for the application of this technology in many countries. There is an urgent need of increasing reactor productivity, biogas yields, and operating at greater throughput without compromising digestion stability. Working at organic solid contents greater than 20% and enhancing hydrolysis and biogas yields to allow retention times to be around 15 days would lead to a significant decrease in reactor volume and therefore in initial capital investments. Anaerobic digestion should be considered as one of the key components in a new economy model characterized by an increase in the degree of circularity. The present manuscript reviews the digestion process analyzing the main parameters associated with digestion performance. The novelty of this manuscript is based on the link established between operating reactor conditions, optimizing treatment capacity, and reducing operating costs that would lead to unlocking the potential of biogas to promote bioenergy production, sustainable agronomic practices, and the integration of this technology into the energy grid.