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Breakthroughs in Anaerobic Digestion: New Trends and Advanced Processes

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 44

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Physical, Chemical and Natural Systems, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Ctra. de Utrera, km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
Interests: anaerobic digestion; wastewater treatment; biogas production; microbial communities; sustainable waste management; circular economy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anaerobic digestion is a well-known and widely applied technology where a microbial consortium facilitates the degradation of organic matter into a number of valuable products, such as energy in the form of methane and/or hydrogen; a digestate with fertilizing properties; and other by-products, such as short-chain fatty acids.

However, the great potential of this technology is yet underexploited, and current facilities are mainly focused on the production of biogas or as a means to reduce the organic load from wastewaters. Furthermore, recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence present a promising perspective in terms of process control and mechanization, reducing the traditional issues related to the maintenance of anaerobic digesters.

Therefore, the objective of this Special Issue is to consolidate recent breakthroughs in anaerobic digestion processes and energy utilization, thereby advancing the current state-of-the-art through the compilation of pioneering theoretical insights and engineering applications. The journal invites submissions of original research articles and reviews that explore advances across a wide range of disciplines. The following list provides a non-exclusive list of potential topics for consideration:

  • Process modeling and machine learning applications;
  • Production of biohythane through two-stage performances;
  • Pretreatments, characterization, and novel substrates;

Biorefineries, circular economy models, and life cycle assessments.

Dr. David De La Lama
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • anaerobic digestion
  • biogas
  • methane production
  • hydrogen production
  • digestate
  • short-chain fatty acids
  • process optimization
  • artificial intelligence (AI)
  • machine learning
  • biohythane
  • two-stage digestion
  • pretreatment methods
  • biorefineries
  • circular economy
  • life cycle assessment (LCA)

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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