Achievements of biochar application for enhanced anaerobic digestion: A review. (November 2019) - Pan, Junting
Highlights: Recent achievements in enhanced anaerobic digestion profit by biochar are reviewed. Biochar enhanced methanogenesis through stimulated direct electron transfer. Biochar accelerated the generation and degradation of volatile fatty acids. Ammonia control and acids-buffering can be realized by biochar. Abstract: Anaerobic digestion (AD) and pyrolysis are two promising technologies used worldwide for waste biomass treatment. Interests on intensification techniques of AD has been increasing to obtain sufficient and sustainable methane production with stable digester performance. For instance, considerable attention has been devoted to the coupling of AD with biochar, which is produced by biomass thermochemical conversion. This manuscript presents a comprehensive review about recent achievements in enhancing AD efficiency with the utilization of biochar. The key roles of biochar include enhancing and equilibrating hydrolysis, acidogenesis-acetogenesis, and methanogenesis, as well as alleviating inhibitor stress were summarized. Biochar can promote biomethane process mainly by serving as a provision for bioelectrical connections between fermentative bacteria and methanogens, a support for microbial colonies, and a reinforcer for buffer capacity. Through an overview of the early applications, this paper aims to pinpoint the potential mechanism and future explorative directions of biochar enhancing AD performance.