Energy recovery from industrial crop wastes by dry anaerobic digestion: A review

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is one of the most sustainable methods for treating wastes and producing energy in the form of biogas. However, this process normally has a high content of water and low total solids (TS), which could be a challenge for regions with water scarcity or treating wastewater from the digestates. Dry fermentation or anaerobic digestion (Dry-AD) is a solid-state fermentation with high TS and is accelerating in the biogas industries. Dry-AD with high volumetric biogas productivity and high organic loading rate is an effective method for treating high solid content materials such as crop wastes. The present article is dedicated to reviewing methane production from industrial crops waste through Dry-AD. The major industrial crops such as corn stover, wheat straw, and sugarcane bagasse as well as their generated wastes, composition, and potential for bioenergy production are studied. Then, the Dry-AD process parameters, advantages, and challenges are described.