Recent advances in bio-based carbon materials for anaerobic digestion: A review

In recent years, the great interest in improving anaerobic digestion (AD) process resulted in the use of different types of additives or accelerants to exploit several profitable synergies, including improved CH4 yield and digestate quality. However, the use of carbon-based materials also reduces operational instability and substrate-induced inhibition that hinder microbial breakdown activity of the organic matter. In this review, recent advances made by different research groups in order to enhance the performance of AD system are reviewed, emphasizing the utilization of low-cost carbon-based materials in the AD process, with a particular focus on the use of bio-based carbons such as biochar, activated carbon, and carbon cloth. The bio-based carbons in AD system support bacterial syntrophy and accelerate to direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET), and enhance methane yield. Moreover, this review gives emphasis on the fabrication of bio-based carbon materials and their applications as additives and their working mechanism in the AD system. Finally, this manuscript debates optimized AD technology to enhance biogas yield via bio-based carbons for energy production and sustainable environment for betterment of human health.