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Biogas Technology for Animal Manure Management in the USA: State of the Art, Opportunities, Challenges, and Perspectives

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Biogas Production

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Abstract

Anaerobic digestion is an established technology for treating organic wastes and producing renewable energy as biogas. This technology is well suited for US livestock operations which have been moving toward increasingly larger facilities with large quantities of manure. However, out of an estimated 8000 plus dairy and swine farms that could use AD, there are currently only 248 operational farm digesters in the USA. The environmental problems associated with livestock manures are summarized, and the benefits of AD to alleviate the problems are discussed. Increasing the versatility of products derived from farm-based AD may make biogas technology more attractive. Some of these products could be enhanced methane production through power-to-gas (PtG) technology, combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP), bio-crude oil, and the enhanced production of medium-chain fatty acids with modified AD microbiomes.

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Acknowledgments

I thank USDA NIFA for several years of grant funding that has supported our anaerobic digestion research. Thanks also to Jesus E. Chavarria-Palma for assistance with data collection and graphics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Gus R. Douglass Institute, West Virginia State University, WV, Institute, USA

    David Henry Huber

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  1. David Henry Huber
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Correspondence to David Henry Huber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Biorremediación, Facultad de Ciencias Biologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Coahuila, Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico

    Nagamani Balagurusamy

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Engineering School of Lorena (EEL), University of Sao Paulo (USP), Lorena, São Paulo, Brazil

    Anuj Kumar Chandel

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Huber, D.H. (2020). Biogas Technology for Animal Manure Management in the USA: State of the Art, Opportunities, Challenges, and Perspectives. In: Balagurusamy, N., Chandel, A.K. (eds) Biogas Production. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58827-4_4

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