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Additives to Enhance the Performance and Mechanism of Biogas Production from Agricultural Wastes: A Mini-review

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Abstract

Additives are an effective means of improving the performance of anaerobic digestion of agricultural wastes and can be well suited to deal with the inhibitory effects produced at various stages of digestion. There are significant differences in the role of different types or doses of additives in other mechanisms, so it is essential to take advantage of the benefits of various additives to enhance overall process performance. This paper presents a review of additives used in different stages of anaerobic digestion of agricultural waste in terms of gas production performance, including associated bacteria and enzymes for accelerating the rate of hydrolysis, zeolites for controlling ammonia-nitrogen concentration/conductive materials for improving acid accumulation, and trace elements that can supplement the nutrients required by microorganisms and chelating agents for enhancing nutritional activity. Finally, this mini-review emphasized that the dosage of additives should be reasonably controlled to maximize the gas production efficiency of the anaerobic fermentation system during the actual production application.

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Funding

This work was supported by Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (Grant No. 2021-MS-228); the Department of Education of Liaoning Province (LJKZ0692).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Shiyan Gu, Huige **ng, Ruji Wang, Lei Zhang, Siyu Shen, Min Zhang & Yi Li

  2. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

    Mingzhe Yu

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  1. Shiyan Gu
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  2. Huige **ng
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study. Ideas, data collection, and analysis were performed by HGX and RJW. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HGX. LZ and SYS contributed to the writing and revisions, while SYG and MZY read and approved the final version. SYG received financial support for the project leading to this publication. YL and MZ were responsible for ensuring that the descriptions are accurate and agreed by all authors.

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Correspondence to Yi Li.

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Gu, S., **ng, H., Yu, M. et al. Additives to Enhance the Performance and Mechanism of Biogas Production from Agricultural Wastes: A Mini-review. Water Air Soil Pollut 235, 87 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-024-06897-w

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