Integrating Microbial Electrochemical Technologies With Anaerobic Digestion for Waste Treatment: Possibilities and Perspectives

Microbial electrochemical technologies, or bioelectrochemical systems (BES), represent an emerging environmental technology capable of converting waste streams into valuable products by harnessing part of the residual energy content within the waste streams. The main feature of this technology lies in the use of solid-state electrodes to induce and control the microbial metabolism. It has been increasingly embraced as a versatile technology compatible with other established technologies for novel industrial and environmentally beneficial or sanitary applications. This chapter reviews and discusses various options for the integration of BES with anaerobic digestion (AD)—an established organic waste treatment technology—to maximize overall treatment efficiencies and the bioenergy recovery potential from waste streams. The principles of and examples of how BES could be integrated with AD are outlined and discussed, and used to consolidate the merit of integrating BES with AD for organic waste treatment.