Methane yield response to pretreatment is dependent on substrate chemical composition: a meta-analysis on anaerobic digestion systems.

Proper pretreatment of organic residues prior to anaerobic digestion (AD) can maximize global biogas production from varying sources without increasing the amount of digestate, contributing to global decarbonization goals. However, the efficiency of pretreatments applied on varying organic streams is poorly assessed. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis on AD studies to evaluate the efficiencies of pretreatments with respect to biogas production measured as methane yield. Based on 1374 observations our analysis shows that pretreatment efficiency is dependent on substrate chemical dominance. Grouping substrates by chemical composition e.g., lignocellulosic-, protein- and lipid-rich dominance helps to highlight the appropriate choice of pretreatment that supports maximum substrate degradation and more efficient conversion to biogas. Methane yield can undergo an impactful increase compared to untreated controls if proper pretreatment of substrates of a given chemical dominance is applied. Non-significant or even adverse effects on AD are, however, observed when the substrate chemical dominance is disregarded.

Absence of oxygen effect on microbial structure and methane production during drying and rewetting events.

Natural environments with frequent drainage experience drying and rewetting events that impose fluctuations in water availability and oxygen exposure. These relatively dramatic cycles profoundly impact microbial activity in the environment and subsequent emissions of methane and carbon dioxide. In this study, we mimicked drying and rewetting events by submitting methanogenic communities from strictly anaerobic environments (anaerobic digestors) with different phylogenetic structures to consecutive desiccation events under aerobic (air) and anaerobic (nitrogen) conditions followed by rewetting. We showed that methane production quickly recovered after each rewetting, and surprisingly, no significant difference was observed between the effects of the aerobic or anaerobic desiccation events. There was a slight change in the microbial community structure and a decrease in methane production rates after consecutive drying and rewetting, which can be attributed to a depletion of the pool of available organic matter or the inhibition of the methanogenic communities. These observations indicate that in comparison to the drying and rewetting events or oxygen exposure, the initial phylogenetic structure and the organic matter quantity and quality exhibited a stronger influence on the methanogenic communities and overall microbial community responses. These results change the current paradigm of the sensitivity of strict anaerobic microorganisms to oxygen exposure.