Mathematical Modeling in Anaerobic Digestion (AD)

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of biowastes is the most conventional way to produce methane-rich biogas, which has great potential to replace the fossil fuel used in multiple applications, like vehicular transportation. Many countries and companies are involved in the design and construction of AD systems. Both efficient and economical AD performances are extremely important to promote worldwide adoption of this technology. Empirical methods have been traditionally used to scale up AD facilities, but these have required construction of expensive prototype systems and time-consuming studies. Alternatively, design and optimization of AD processes for biogas production can be enhanced via validated mathematical models developed from mechanistic studies that lead to a more indepth understanding of the very complex transport phenomena, microbial biochemical kinetics, and stochiometric relationships associated with AD. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review on the models available for AD processes.