Biomass and biogas: potentials, efficiencies and flexibility

In the field of ‘renewable energy resources’ formation of biogas is an important option. Biogas can be produced from biomass in a multistep process called anaerobic digestion (AD) and is usually performed in large digesters. Anaerobic digestion of biomass is mediated by various groups of microorganisms, which live in complex community structures. However, there is still limited knowledge on the relationships between the type of biomass and operational process parameters. This relates to the changes within the microbial community structure and the resulting overall biogas production efficiency. Opening this microbial black box could lead to an better understanding of on-going microbial processes, resulting in higher biogas yields and overall process efficiencies.