Biomethane Potential Tests—A Key Tool for Anaerobic Digestion Research and Practice

Dear Colleagues,

Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests are routinely conducted as part of anaerobic digestion research and practice in order to quantify the maximum methane yield that a substrate can provide. The first BMP method was described 40 years ago, and many variations have since been proposed. Despite its widespread use and importance to both research labs and plant operators, BMP measurement suffers from high variability among laboratories, significantly limiting its value in both areas. How can BMP measurement be improved? Can we get more out of BMP trials? Standardization of methods may help in reducing both systematic and random error. Development of validation criteria could help technicians to reject flawed results and identify sources of error. Examination of kinetic data from BMP tests might help further to evaluate data quality with little additional effort.

This Special Issue of Water will focus on recent developments in BMP measurement and application of BMP tests in research and practice. We are primarily interested in contributions on these topics:

• Critical review of the current state-of-the-art;
• Improvement of existing BMP guidelines;
• Comparison of BMP methods and identification of problems;
• New methods for the determination of BMP;
• Inter-laboratory studies;
• Use and limitations of BMP tests;
• Kinetics from BMP tests;
• Case studies/application of BMP tests in research and practice.

The open-access journal Water provides an ideal forum for papers on this topic that are relevant to all biogas research groups and treatment plant operators. We are looking forward to receiving high-quality manuscripts from the global biogas community. Please contact us with any questions.

Prof. Dr. Konrad Koch
Prof. Dr. Sasha D. Hafner
Prof. Dr. Christof Holliger
Guest Editors

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