Anaerobic digestion is an efficient technology widely used in biodegradable waste treatment, in which both pollution control and energy recovery could be achieved. Sewage sludge generated by waste water treatment plants is an ideal candidate for anaerobic digestion, for the total amount of sludge could be considerably reduced during the digestion process with a large sum of biogas produced as energy resource for heating, electricity or vehicle power. Although complex microbial community structures and interrelationships in anaerobic digestion process lead to the difficult of managing and maintaining the system, there has been various advanced methods developed to optimize the anaerobic digestion technology. Co-digestion of feedstocks from different sources and pre-treatments with chemical agents, physical methods or biological organics are all proved to be effective methods for enhancement of anaerobic digestion technology in the aspects of pathogen destruction and biogas production. 

Wenling Chen, Jing Wang, Wengui Liu. A View of Anaerobic Digestion: Microbiology, Advantages and Optimization. Academic Journal of Environment & Earth Science (2023) Vol. 5 Issue 1: 1-8. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJEE.2023.050101.

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