Energy Converter: Anaerobic Digestion, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Since Jan Baptita van Helmont first determined that flammable gases could be generated from decaying organic matter in the 17th century, anaerobic digestion (AD) has experienced hundreds of years of study from scientists to determine its mechanisms, theory and function, etc. There are still many unknown factors and challenges because of the complex microbial communities, metabolic pathways and biochemical reactions that hamper the full development of a growing AD technology. Recently, climate change and global warming have made AD technology one of the most attractive solutions worldwide. Currently, AD provides the most mature way to convert organic wastes into sustainable resources including bioenergy and organic fertilizer. Organic wastes mainly come in the form of three categories of biomass: substrates of farm origin, such as manure, crop residues and energy crops; waste from households, restaurants and grocery stores, such as expired food or food waste; and industrial by-products, such as papermill sludge, meat processing waste, brewery wastes, and textile mill fibers. However, economic feasibility is a major obstacle discouraging farmers and waste management companies from using AD technology. 

This economic obstacle can be conquered by producing value-added chemicals and polymers, enhancing biomethane productivities, and reducing equipment and investment costs, etc. AD-based biorefineries and the circular economy have become increasingly popular concepts that ensure the sustainability of the environment and potential for financial gain for the local community. 

The goal of this Special Issue is to publish both recent innovative research results as well as review papers on the production of biogas, value-added products from AD-based biorefineries, microbial communities, reactor design and system control, upgrading, nutrient recovery for AD processes and related mathematical models including, but not limited to, kinetics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life cycle assessment (LCA), etc.

Dr. Liang Yu
Guest Editor

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. Fermentation is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

• anaerobic digestion
• organic wastes
• biogas
• renewable natural gas
• nutrient recovery
• volatile fatty acids
• anaerobic digester
• bioproducts
• organic fertilizer
• solid digestate
• anaerobic effluent

• Energy Converter: Anaerobic Digestion in Fermentation (13 articles)