Major Pathway of Methane Formation From Energy Crops in Agricultural Biogas Digesters

The author reviews the current state of recent microbial community studies conducted on lab-pilot-full scale agricultural biogas digesters fed with energy crops operated in mono- and codigestion modes with or without use of manure as cosubstrate. It is commonly concluded by researchers that methane (CH4) formation mostly resulted from conversion of hydrogen (H-2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), rather than aceticlastic methanogenesis. Hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis seems to be the major pathway for formation of methane from energy crops in agricultural biogas digesters.