Anaerobic digestion in a biorefinery context

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is one of the most diffused biotechnology around the world for the production of biogas, a gaseous blend composed by carbon dioxide and methane. This latter is widely adopted as biofuels for heat and electricity generation. The main operational conditions for the optimization of AD were analyzed along this chapter. Beyond the biogas, AD can be used also for the production of high added value compounds, such as hydrogen and Volatile Fatty Acids, which are considered the biological “building blocks” of different bio-products. The main by-products of AD, the digestate, was also discussed as it is rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium compounds which can be recovered and used for the production of bio-fertilizers.