Pretreatment of Animal Manure Biomass to Improve Biogas Production: A Review

• Main Authors: Orlando Meneses-Quela, Borja Velázquez-Martí
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: anaerobic digestion; biogas; degradation; lignocellulose; manure; pretreatments
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/14/3573

The objective of this research is to present a review of the current technologies and pretreatments used in the fermentation of cow, pig and poultry manure. Pretreatment techniques were classified into physical, chemical, physicochemical, and biological groups. Various aspects of these different pretreatment approaches are discussed in this review. The advantages and disadvantages of its applicability are highlighted since the effects of pretreatments are complex and generally depend on the characteristics of the animal manure and the operational parameters. Biological pretreatments were shown to improve methane production from animal manure by 74%, chemical pretreatments by 45%, heat pretreatments by 41% and physical pretreatments by 30%. In general, pretreatments improve anaerobic digestion of the lignocellulosic content of animal manure and, therefore, increase methane yield.