Abstract
The general performance of anaerobic digestiers and the diversity of wastes which they can treat have been increasing steadily as a result of new reactor design, operating conditions, or the use of specialised microbial consortia, during the last decade. This paper illustrates examples of prospects and challenges of anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation and phosphate fermentation to phosphine are new nutrient removal methods to be coupled to anaerobic digestion. Approaches to recover organic acids and biohydrogen prior to methane fermentation are attracting interest. Solid waste digestion should evolve towards integration of the concepts of energy recovery and Kyoto-agreed CO2 reduction.
