Pre-treatment Technologies to Enhance Anaerobic Digestion

Sustainable energy production is the major priority in the world due to global warming, climate change, and fossil fuels depletion. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of sludge is the sustainable process producing the energy and minimizing the fossil fuel usage. However, conventional AD of sludge is not sustainable since it takes longer time for digestion which increases the energy input and greenhouse emissions. Therefore, pretreatment technologies have emerged to enhance methane production and thus the energy output from the AD process. In this chapter, pre-treatment technologies adopted mainly physical, chemical, thermal, and other advanced processes to enhance methane production in the last decade are elaborated. In addition, energy balance of the process and the feasibility of the pre-treatment technologies and their current status are discussed.