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Achieving Sustainable Energy Recovery and Environmental Protection Through Anaerobic Process Optimization

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B: Energy and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 August 2026 | Viewed by 706

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144 Rome, Italy
Interests: wastewater; modelling; nitrogen cycle; nitrous oxide; process control; biological processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (DICAM), University of Trento, 38123 Trento, Italy
Interests: environmental sustainability; emissions; impact; health; optimisation; treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Among all the available renewable energies, energy obtained from biogas produced from organic sources such as urban and industrial wastewater, organic solid waste, and agricultural residues has become widespread. Considering the urge to employ more and more renewable energy, it becomes of increasing interest to implement anaerobic process technologies with the aim of converting carbonaceous resources into biogas. Process engineering, mathematical models and control strategies can aid optimal operational performance of these technologies. While extracting energy, it is important to consider the environmental sustainability of anaerobic technologies both in terms of solid and liquid residuals and in terms of gas emissions. When exploring the potential of anaerobic digestion, environmental policy and prescribed legislation needs to be investigated.

Based on this, the Special Issue would like to collect works dealing with the following:

  • Environmental sustainability of anaerobic technologies;
  • Life-cycle assessment of anaerobic technologies;
  • Role of anaerobic technologies within the context of circular economy;
  • Comparative analyses of the impact of different feedstocks on biogas production;
  • Nature-based anaerobic technologies;
  • Carbon footprint analyses of anaerobic technologies;
  • Post-treatment technologies for anaerobic treatment residuals;
  • Experimentation of innovative anaerobic technologies;
  • Optimization of biogas production through process engineering, pretreatments and feeding strategies;
  • Mathematical modelling approaches applied to anaerobic technologies;
  • Control strategies applied to anaerobic technologies;
  • Engineering techniques for biogas production enhancement;
  • Environmental policy on anaerobic technologies.

In line with the selected topics, the type of articles welcome to this Special Issue are as follows:

  • Research works consolidating findings already available in the literature;
  • Research works proposing novel ideas;
  • Well-structured research works presenting negative outcomes;
  • Review articles.

Dr. Riccardo Boiocchi
Prof. Dr. Marco Ragazzi
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. Energies 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 2600 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

  • biomethane
  • anaerobic process
  • mathematical modelling
  • process control
  • carbon footprint
  • optimisation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

25 pages, 4390 KB  
Article
Short-Term and Annual Variability of Continuously Monitored Biogas Yield from Sewage Sludge at a Wastewater Treatment Plant
by Wiktor Halecki, Anna Młyńska, Michał Gąsiorek, Agnieszka Petryk and Krzysztof Chmielowski
Energies 2026, 19(5), 1377; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19051377 - 9 Mar 2026
Viewed by 439
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants increasingly rely on anaerobic digestion and biogas utilization to reduce operational costs, enhance energy self-sufficiency, and support circular-economy objectives. This study provides a comprehensive, year-round assessment of sludge production, sludge characteristics relevant to digestion, biogas generation, and energy performance at [...] Read more.
Wastewater treatment plants increasingly rely on anaerobic digestion and biogas utilization to reduce operational costs, enhance energy self-sufficiency, and support circular-economy objectives. This study provides a comprehensive, year-round assessment of sludge production, sludge characteristics relevant to digestion, biogas generation, and energy performance at a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The plant generated on average 68.0 m3/d of thickened primary sludge and 24.0 m3/d of excessive sludge (total 92 m3/d), with low daily variability throughout the year. Biogas production remained highly stable, with an annual average of approximately 1300 m3/d and limited daily variation. Although monthly averages ranged from 1004 to 1728 m3/d, within-month variability was low to moderate, indicating that digestion processes responded consistently to changes in sludge quantity and composition. The weak correlation between sludge volume and biogas output (r = 0.29) showed that, besides sludge quantity, factors such as organic content and digester operating conditions also influence biogas yield. Energy performance indicators demonstrated strong self-sufficiency potential: the facility produced 1,095,047 kWh of electricity, covering 56.72% of its annual demand. The high coefficient of determination for self-sufficiency (R2 = 0.871) confirmed a strong linear relationship between biogas-derived energy production and reduced grid dependence. Operational correlations further highlighted system coherence, with cogenerator and boiler usage strongly inversely related (r = −0.85) and biogas production positively associated with heat output (r = 0.66). Overall, the results demonstrate a stable and efficient sludge-to-energy system and provide a detailed dataset supporting future optimization of anaerobic digestion processes. Full article
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