Anaerobic Digestion
Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is the treatment of
organic material under anaerobic conditions, that is, in the
absence of air. The digestion process involves microbial
degradation of material but uses a different group of
micro-organisms than composting. Anaerobic digesters may be
classified as single-stage or multi-stage, through-flow, plug-flow
or batch. This terminology refers to nature and use of the
central resource of the system, i.e. the reactor vessel or vessels
in which the digestion takes place. The outputs from AD systems are
methane usually called biogas which can be used to generate power
and a solid ‘digestate’ which is similar to compost and can also be
used for the benefit of agriculture, horticulture or ecological
improvement.
Anaerobic digestion would under most circumstance
be regulated by: