Recent Advances in Anaerobic Digestion of Lignocellulosic Resources Toward Enhancing Biomethane Production

Lignocellulosic resources are one of the most abundant, economical, and carbon-neutral renewable feedstocks. These resources can be transformed into valuable products, such as bioenergy (biomethane) and biofertilizer (nutrient-rich digestate), using anaerobic digestion (AD) technology. Although biomethane production from the AD of lignocellulosic resources appears promising to fulfill the rising global energy demand, it often results in poor biomethane recovery, restricting its large-scale adoption for bioenergy production. The efficient valorization of lignocellulosic resources during AD relies on various parameters, such as substrate biodegradability, process design, and process stability. This chapter focuses on the recent research progress in enhancing biomethane production from AD of lignocellulosic resources using different process designs (wet vs. dry, mesophilic vs. thermophilic, batch vs. continuous, and single stage vs. multiple stages), substrate pretreatment technologies (mechanical, chemical, thermal, and biological), and process stabilization strategies (codigestion, additives supplementation, and preventing ammonia accumulation). Proper selection of these parameters is crucial in establishing a sustainable and techno-economically feasible AD process for exploiting lignocellulosic resources to their full potential.