Anaerobic Biotechnologies for Energy and Resource Recovery from Waste

Dear Colleagues,

The global transition toward a circular and low-carbon economy has intensified the need for innovative technologies that convert waste streams into valuable products. Anaerobic biotechnologies offer a versatile platform for transforming a wide range of solid, liquid, and gaseous waste into energy carriers and renewable biochemicals. These processes—ranging from conventional anaerobic digestion to advanced bioelectrochemical systems, solid-state fermentation, and microbial electrosynthesis—are increasingly recognized as powerful tools for resource recovery, greenhouse gas mitigation, and sustainable waste management.

This Special Issue, “Anaerobic Biotechnologies for Energy and Resource Recovery from Waste,” invites high-quality research, reviews, case studies, and technological developments focused on microbial, biochemical, and reactor-level innovations. Submissions may explore any type of waste, including food and organic waste, biosolids, agricultural residues, industrial effluents, brewery/distillery waste, landfills, and emission-based (gaseous) streams such as CO₂ and syngas.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Anaerobic digestion for biogas, biomethane, and biohydrogen production;
• Bioelectrochemical enhancement of anaerobic processes (e.g., MEC, MES, and BEAD/BEAST);
• Short-chain fatty acid and carboxylate production from waste;
• Solid-state fermentation and high-solid digestion systems;
• Optimization of microbial communities, genomics, and processes;
• Treatment and valorization of brewery wastewater, food waste, agricultural waste, and mixed plastics;
• Carbon capture and bioconversion of CO₂ and industrial gases;
• Process modelling, life-cycle assessment, and techno-economic analysis;
• Pilot-scale and industrial case studies demonstrating circular-economy potential.

This Special Issue aims to highlight current advances, emerging challenges, and future opportunities for using anaerobic biotechnologies to recover energy, nutrients, and value-added products from diverse waste streams.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Abid Hussain
Dr. Kaushik Venkiteshwaran
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2700 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.

• anaerobic digestion
• bioelectrochemical systems
• solid-state fermentation
• waste-to-energy conversion
• resource recovery
• biogas
• SCFAs
• microbial electrosynthesis
• circular bioeconomy
• organic waste valorization