Electromethanogenesis: a Promising Biotechnology for the Anaerobic Treatment of Organic Waste
Yuriy Litti, Yu. I. Russkova, Elena A. Zhuravleva, Sofiya N. Parshina, А.A. Kovalev, Д.А. Ковалев, А. Н. Ножевникова
Abstract
The ability of microorganisms to carry out interspecies electron transfer during the degradation of organic substances under anaerobic conditions opens up new possibilities for a controlled increase in the efficiency of the methanogenic decomposition of organic waste. This review presents the main principles of the effects of a direct electric current on the anaerobic degradation of organic substances, process parameters, changes in the composition of the microbial community, and factors affecting the optimization of the hybrid systems comprising microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) and anaerobic digester (AD), i.e., the performance of the MEC-AD system. The research in this field has been analyzed for the subsequent application of electromethanogenesis, which represents a new energy-efficient biotechnology for anaerobic wastewater treatment and organic waste digestion.