Biogas Production: Pretreatment Methods in Anaerobic Digestion

As an increasingly important piece of the "energy pie," biogas and other biofuels are being used more and more around the world in every conceivable area of industry and could be a partial answer to the energy problem and the elimination of global warming.

This book will highlight the recent advances in the pretreatment and value addition of lignocellulosic wastes (LCW) with the main focus on domestic and agro-industrial residues. Mechanical, physical, and biological treatment systems are brought into perspective. The main value-added products from lignocellulosic wastes are summarized in a manner that pinpoints the most recent trends and the future directions.

Physico-chemical and biological treatment systems seem to be the most favored options while biofuels, biodegradable composites, and biosorbents production paint a bright picture of the current and future bio-based products. Engineered microbes seem to tackle the problem of bioconversion of substrates that are otherwise nonconvertible by conventional wild strains. Although the main challenge facing LCW utilization is the high costs involved in treatment and production processes, some recent affordable processes with promising results have been proposed. Future trends are being directed to nanobiotechnology and genetic engineering for improved processes and products.