"Description Interest in anaerobic digestion (AD), the process of energy production through the production of biogas, has increased rapidly in recent years. Agricultural and other organic waste are important substrates which can be treated by AD. This book is one of the first to provide a broad introduction to anaerobic digestion and its potential to turn agricultural crops or crop residues, animal and other organic waste, into biomethane. The substrates used can include any non-woody materials, including grass and maize silage, seaweeds, farm slurry, municipal and industrial wastes. These are all systematically reviewed in terms of their suitability from a biological, technical and economic perspective. In the past the technical competence and high capital investment required for industrial-scale anaerobic digesters has limited their uptake, but the authors show that recent advances have made smaller-scale systems more viable through a greater understanding of optimising bacterial metabolism and productivity. Broader issues such as life cycle assessment and energy policies to promote AD are also discussed"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

pt. I. Legislation and energy policy -- Sustainable agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions -- Energy and agricultural policy in relation to biomethane, with particular reference to the transport sector -- Biomethane production with reference to land-use change -- pt. II. Feedstocks -- Grass and grass silage : Agronomical characteristics and biogas production -- Maize and maize silage for biomethane production -- Suitability of microalgae and seaweeds for biomethane production -- Organic wastes for biomethane production -- pt. III. Anaerobic digestion technology -- Anaerobic digesters : Perspectives and challenges -- Biogas upgrading and compression -- Storages and distribution of biomethane -- Variation in anaerobic digestion : Need for process monitoring -- General principles of data warehouse and data mining in anaerobic digestion -- pt. IV. Molecular biology and population dynamics -- Microbial communities and their dynamics in biomethane production -- The role of molecular biology in optimizing anaerobic digestion and biomethane production -- pt. V. Sustainability in anaerobic digestion -- Life cycle assessment as a tool for assessing biomethane production -- The use of digestate as a substitute for manufactured fertilizer -- The sustainability of small-scale anaerobic digesters at farm scale -- Biogas technology for developing countries : An approach to sustainable development -- Concluding remarks.

Print version record.

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