“…First, proteins, polysaccharides, fats, nucleic acids and other polymers are hydrolyzed into monomers and polymers, including peptides, amino acids, sugars, organic acids, and other substances with low molecular weights. Further hydrolysation into alcohols, propionic acid, butyric acid and other products occurs, and these intermediate products are further degraded into acetic acid, formic acid, carbon dioxide and hydrogen (Rice and Claypool, 1981;Gang et al, 1985;Shur, 2002;Colosimo, 2016). Finally, methanogens use carbon dioxide and hydrogen to produce biogenic methane.…”