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

Abstract

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.