Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.8
3.9
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Integrated Biorefinery
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Integrated Biorefinery

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 February 2024) | Viewed by 3005

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Sudipta De

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Mechanical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Interests: sustainable energy; biofuels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Ranjana Chowdhury

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Chemical Engineering Department, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India
Interests: sustainable bioenergy; chemical and biochemical reaction engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The demand for fossil fuels and subsequent emissions due to their prolonged use have led to investigation of alternative energy resources. With increasing evidence of impending global warming and rising CO2 levels, biomass-based feed stocks have gained significance in recent years. These bio-based materials can be subjected to biochemical, chemical and thermochemical processes to satisfy energy requirements and generate useful by-products like biochar, platform chemicals and other bio products. The concept of biorefinery can be described as a congregation of different unit processes and operations that can be used to derive value-added products such as platform biochemicals and biofuels from biomass-based feed. The concept of biorefineries has been redefined over the years and it has been observed that several other processes such as wastewater treatment, CO2 capture and anaerobic digestion can be integrated into biorefineries, thus helping society to take a step further to adapt to sustainable and zero-waste circular systems. Anaerobic digestion systems have been the backbone of rural waste management in developing countries, with the incentive of utilizing the produced biogas as fuel; simultaneously, the digestate can be repurposed as a soil quality enhancer. Anaerobic digestion (AD) can degrade a large variety of organic wastes, such as food and agro-waste, due to the presence of reactor microbiome. The integration of the anaerobic digestion process with different bioprocesses (microbial, algal etc.) and thermochemical processes has led to the concept of anaerobic digestion-Based biorefineries (ADBB) being developed, strengthening the zero-waste concept of sustainable development. In such a system, the effluent of bioprocesses can be utilized by AD units and the digestate of AD process can in turn be converted into char, syngas, pyro-oil, etc., through thermochemical processes. The upgradation of biogas generated from AD is enabled by the integration of algal bioprocesses, leading to the further generation of biochemicals like lipid, pigment, etc. The generation of hydrogen, ethanol and higher alcohols can be other possibilities through the integration of fermentative and chain elongating bioprocesses into AD. The utilization of liquid effluents, released from bioprocesses in microbial fuel cell for bioelectricity generation, can further strengthen the development of sustainable biorefinery. The biochar generated through pyrolysis of AD digestate can again be introduced into AD for process enhancement. The gases produced during the thermochemical process, namely CO2, can be captured by integrating algal carbon capture and utilization (CCU) units that can remove CO2 and metabolize it same into lipids, fatty acids, proteins and pharmaceuticals. Post-extractions of compounds like leftover biomass, which can be treated as organic waste, can be again fed back into the AD system.

The Guest Editors (GEs) welcome the submission of original research articles and critical review articles incorporating anaerobic digestion process from disciplines related to sustainable biorefineries.

Prof. Dr. Sudipta De
Prof. Dr. Ranjana Chowdhury
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 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. Sustainability 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
  • biorefinery
  • sustainability

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 4149 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Biogas Production and Digestive Stability through Waste Co-Digestion
by Rao Muhammad Ahmad, Sabiha Javied, Ambreen Aslam, Saud Alamri, Qamar uz Zaman, Ayesha Hassan and Nabeela Noor
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 3045; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16073045 - 06 Apr 2024
Viewed by 474
Abstract
This study aimed to enhance the nutrient balance of municipal solid waste (MSW), characterized by a high carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio, which is a critical factor in the anaerobic digestion process. The investigation involved the addition of MSW, which is rich in carbon content, [...] Read more.
This study aimed to enhance the nutrient balance of municipal solid waste (MSW), characterized by a high carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio, which is a critical factor in the anaerobic digestion process. The investigation involved the addition of MSW, which is rich in carbon content, to food waste (FW) with high nitrogen content. The goal was to determine an optimal co-substrate mixing ratio of MSW and FW for anaerobic co-digestion at mesophilic temperatures, aiming to improve process stability and performance to achieve higher biogas yield. The co-digestion experiments encompassed five mixing ratios of MSW and FW with C/N ratios of 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 under mesophilic conditions in a laboratory. The results indicated that the highest specific biogas yield, reaching 827 L/kg VS, was attained when the co-substrate feedstock had a balanced C/N ratio of 20, surpassing the 520 L/kg vs. obtained from MSW digestion alone. As the proportion of MSW increased in the co-substrate mixing feedstock, the biogas production rate decreased. Additionally, the study explored the optimal substrate-to-inoculum (S/I) ratio, focusing on the co-substrate feedstock with a C/N ratio of 20. Four S/I ratios (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0) were examined, revealing that the highest specific biogas yield, at 642 L/kg VS, occurred at an S/I ratio of 0.5. An accumulation in volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was observed at higher S/I ratios, attributed to the lower abundance of inoculum microorganisms in the anaerobic digestion process. Overall, the findings suggested that the optimum C/N ratio for co-digestion of MSW and FW falls within the range of 20–25/1, while the preferred S/I ratio is 0.5. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Integrated Biorefinery)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 3709 KiB  
Article
Biohythane Production from Domestic Wastewater Sludge and Cow Dung Mixture Using Two-Step Anaerobic Fermentation Process
by Faraz Sufyan, Mehmood Ali, Sadia Khan and Nazia Hossain
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14417; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914417 - 01 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1147
Abstract
The current study explored bioenergy, particularly biohythane (a combination of biohydrogen (bioH2) and biomethane (bioCH4)), production from cow dung and untreated domestic wastewater sludge to valorize the waste into a value-added product. The experimental study consisted of a two-step [...] Read more.
The current study explored bioenergy, particularly biohythane (a combination of biohydrogen (bioH2) and biomethane (bioCH4)), production from cow dung and untreated domestic wastewater sludge to valorize the waste into a value-added product. The experimental study consisted of a two-step process: dark fermentation (DF) and anaerobic digestion (AD) with a range of processing conditions varying the temperature and pH (acidic, neutral, and basic). The study maintained thermophilic conditions (55 °C) for bioH2 production and mesophilic conditions (35 °C) for bioCH4 production. The highest yields of bioH2 and bioCH4 were obtained at a pH of 5.5 (108.04 mL H2/g VS) and a pH of 7.5 (768.54 mL CH4/g VS), respectively. Microorganisms, such as Lactobacillus brevis and Clostridium butyricum, in the wastewater sludge accelerated the conversion reaction resulting in the highest bioH2 yield for an acidic environment, while Clostridium and Bacilli enhanced bioCH4 yield in basic conditions. The maximum cumulative yield of biohythane was obtained under basic pH conditions (pH 7.5) through DF and AD, resulting in 811.12 mL/g VS and a higher volumetric energy density of 3.316 MJ/L as compared to other reaction conditions. The experimental data were modelled using a modified Gompertz’s model at a 95% confidence interval and showed the best-fitting data from experimental and simulation results for biohythane production. The regression coefficient R2 value was highly significant at 0.995 and 0.992 for bioH2 and bioCH4 with the change in pH during biohythane production. Thus, this study presented an effective pathway to utilize untreated domestic wastewater sludge as an inoculum, showcasing the potential of biohythane production and the generation of valuable metabolic end-products across a broad range of pH conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Integrated Biorefinery)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3928 KiB  
Article
The Multifunctional Effect of Porous Additives on the Alleviation of Ammonia and Sulfate Co-Inhibition in Anaerobic Digestion
by Christos A. Tzenos, Sotirios D. Kalamaras, Eleni-Anna Economou, George Em. Romanos, Charitomeni M. Veziri, Anastasios Mitsopoulos, Georgios C. Menexes, Themistoklis Sfetsas and Thomas A. Kotsopoulos
Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 9994; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139994 - 24 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 851
Abstract
Ammonia and sulfide derived from the reduction of sulfate by the sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are two of the most common inhibitors in anaerobic digestion. Zeolites and bentonites are characterized as porous materials able to adsorb both ammonia and sulfur compounds and seem to [...] Read more.
Ammonia and sulfide derived from the reduction of sulfate by the sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) are two of the most common inhibitors in anaerobic digestion. Zeolites and bentonites are characterized as porous materials able to adsorb both ammonia and sulfur compounds and seem to be promising candidates as additives in anaerobic digestion to counteract this co-inhibition. In this study, bentonite and zeolite 13X were subjected to alkali modification at different concentrations of NaOH to alter their physicochemical properties, and their effect on the alleviation of ammonia and sulfate co-inhibition in anaerobic digestion of cow manure was examined. The methane production in 13X treatments (13X without NaOH, 13X02-NaOH 0.2 M and 13X1-NaOH 1 M) was elevated by increasing the NaOH concentration in the modification step, resulting in a significance increase by 8.96%, 11.0% and 15.56% in 13X treatments compared to the treatment without additive. Bentonite treatments did not show the same behavior on the toxicity mitigation. The results appear to be influenced by the combined effect of 13X zeolites on the sulfur compounds adsorption and on the increase in pH and Na+ concentration in the batch reactors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Integrated Biorefinery)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop