The D-AnBioC process was studied in relation to: (1) mesophilic or thermophilic systems (based on operating

temperatures); (2) single or multi-stage systems (based on reactor configurations); and (3) batch or continuous
systems (based on operational sequences with various other types of OS) (Forster-Carneiro et al. 2008a, b; Fdez-
Guelfo et al. 2010; Guendouz et al. 2010; Ahn et al. 2010; Yabu et al. 2011; Duan et al. 2012; Zeshan et al. 2012;
and Mussoline et al. 2012). For example, it is reported that there are 197 commercial facilities treating the OS
(especially that of MSW) in Europe. This is contributing to more than 90 % of the anaerobic plants worldwide, with
total capacities of 6 million tonnes/year (Mattheeuws 2011). In that, more than 3.5 million tonnes of OS are treated
([60 %) with the D-AnBioC processes. Commercial designs like DRANCO, Kompo gas systems (thermophilic
systems), and Valorga (meshophilic system) are commonly used in Europe. Also, the Linde process (dry, two-stage
continuous process) and Biocel systems (dry, single-stage, batch processes) are also used in different parts of world.

Overall, D-AnBioC has an advantage of treating OS with the wide range of biodegradable organic contents, that is,
between 60 and 95 %. It is rarely operated at OS less than 60 %. In addition, D-AnBioC is reported to have less risks
due to the floating fibrous materials on the top of digesters, which is common phenomenon observed in W-AnBioC
processes (Kalia and Singh 1998). However, the D-AnBioC is more sensitive due to the accumulation of
toxic/inhibiting components like VFAs, ammonia-N and heavy metals (Chen et al. 2008; Jha et al. 2011; Zhang et
al. 2012; Duan et al. 2012; Zeshan et al. 2012), which leads to possible disruptions of syntrophic relationships
between the different groups of micro-organisms co-existing within the system. The D-AnBioC also provides a high
accumulation of sludge. There are few batch processes, such as, SEBAC, Biopercolate and DiCom that are designed
and developed to minimize the above discussed problems. Also, few research studies have considered: (1) pre-
treatment of OS (He et al. 2008; Zhu et al. 2010; Liang et al. 2011); (2) co-digestion concepts (Naomichi and Yutaka
2007; Maritza et al. 2008; Liu et al. 2009; Li et al. 2011a; Zhang et al. 2012; Mussoline et al. 2012); (3) adjusting
C/N ratio (Zeshan et al. 2012); (4) effective mixing of digestate within the systems (Kayhanian 1995; Sharma et al.
2000; Forster-Carneiro et al. 2007a, 2008b; Guendouz et al. 2010; Zeshan et al. 2012); (5) pre-aeration steps
(Charles et al. 2009; Walker et al. 2009); and (6) addition of nutrients, minerals and buffering agents (Yadvika et al.
2004; Zeshan et al. 2012) to improve performance of the D-AnBioC system.
The main aim of this review paper is to provide current trends in D-AnBioC research, factors affecting D-AnBioC
and design considerations using case studies. In addition, knowledge gaps and research needs in D-AnBioC
processes are also indentified.
The D-AnBioC system is mainly designed to treat OS from four different sources, including, agriculture waste,
community waste, animal waste and industrial waste. So far, food waste, fruits and vegetable waste, organic fraction
MSW (OF-MSW), garden waste, straw waste, forest residues, energy crops, grasses, dewatered domestic wastewater
sludge, industrial waste and sludge, animal waste (manure, animal fat and abattoir) and paper waste sources are
effectively used as sole source or co-digested using D-AnBioC process (Gunaseelan 2004; Naomichi and Yutaka
2007; Ahn and Smith 2008; Fernandez et al. 2008; He et al. 2008; Kusch et al. 2008; Buendia et al. 2009; Liang et
al. 2011; Duan et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2012; Guendouz et al. 2012; Mussoline et al. 2012). Some of these research
studies are summarized in Table 2. However, the selection of a particular substrate for D-AnBioC is necessary and
dependent on, but not limited to, the following factors: (1) OS flow and mass flux; (2) physico-chemical
characteristics of OS; (3) economic factors affecting process control parameters; and (4) meeting the designed
objective.
Considering the agricultural waste production on a global scale, it is estimated that around 7 billion tonnes of crop
and ligno-cellulosic residues of cereals are disposed of every year (Lal 2008). In particular, around 2.9 9 103 million
tonnes of cereal crops, 1.6 9 102 million tonnes of pulse crops, 1.4 9 10 million tonnes of oil seed crops and 5.4 9
102 million tonnes of plantation crops are reported to be produced annually (Kumar et al. 2008). Similarly, per-
capita MSW generation from different parts of the world varied between 0.4 and 2.1 kg/day. Considering the
average value of 1.3 kg/per-capita/day with total global population at 7.10 billion, MSW generation is roughly
estimated to be around 9.23 million tonnes per day. It is predicted that the MSW generation will be approximately 3
billion tonnes by the year 2025 (Charles et al. 2009). The production of fruit and vegetable waste is also considered
as an important matter with regard to existing disposal practices (Bouallagui et al. 2005). Similarly, domestic
wastewater sludge generation is estimated at about 50 g of dry matter per day per person (Rulkens 2008). This
roughly contributes to 0.36 million tonnes for sludge management in a day. Finally, industrial wastes and forest
residue are also generated in significant amounts. There are different routes envisaged and studied for the effective
utilization of these OS on the basis of its mass flow and further to meet the objective of safe disposal practices.
Among them, the D-AnBioC technology competes with the other renewable energy recovery projects and it is
considered as a green technology.
However, large quantities of OS remain unutilized with the D-AnBioC, due to its complex, heterogenic physico-
chemical characteristics (cellulose: hemicelluloses: lignin) and thus the requisite for the process optimization of
individual OS. CH4 is generated mainly from the cellulose (conversion takes several weeks) and hemicellulose
(conversion takes few days) content of OS, as presented in Eqs. 1 and 2 below:

Limited CH4 emanation is reported from the lignin bioconversion processes under D-AnBioC and W-An-BioC
conditions, because of its recalcitrant nature (Komilis and Ham 2003). Therefore, different degrees of pre-treatment
were necessary for OS, which has varying percentages of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin content to increase
the substrate solubility and subsequently to accelerate the biodegradation rate (Charles et al. 2009). Since the final
products of anaerobic bioconversion processes mainly rely on the characteristics of OS, selection of appropriate
pretreatment conditions and optimization of process parameters suitable for a particular OS is highly important. In
many cases, total organic carbon (C) and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (N) contents of the OS are considered as prime and
important parameters to design the process variables. The C/N ratio of the different OS varies widely between 6 (for
example, animal slurries) and 500 (for example, wood shavings) but the required C/N ratio is reported to be 2030
(Weiland 2006; Bouallagui et al. 2009; Li et al. 2011b; Jha et al. 2011; Khalid et al. 2011; Kusch et al. 2012). Thus,
the selection of OS for D-AnBioC should consider the C/N ratio as one of the important factors along with TS
contents. Protein is the major source of N in OS, which can solubilize into ammonia-N and accumulate under
anaerobic conditions (Jokela and Rintala 2003). Even though N is considered as one of the major sources for
microbial growth, accumulation of ammonia-N is reported to affect the bio-reactors performance in D-AnBioC
(Chen et al. 2008; Li et al. 2011a; Zeshan et al. 2012). Under high TS content, the rate of substrate conversion is
reduced with lower biogas yield (Fernandez et al. 2008; Li and Yan 2011; Bernet et al. 2011; Guendouz et al. 2012).
This may have been due to a C/N imbalance within the system. Thus, TS of the OS substrates along with
physicochemical properties of the substrates are to be mainly considered for the D-AnBioC process to control
overall CH4 yield. It was noted that the TS of OS influenced the following parameters: rheological properties and
viscosity of the reactor contents, fluid dynamics, clogging and solid sedimentation that can directly affect the overall
mass transfer rates within the bioreactors (Karim et al. 2005; Bernet et al. 2011; Guendouz et al. 2012). Other than C
and N, characterization of OS for carbohydrates, proteins, fats, sugars, VFAs and alcohols are also important for
biogas projects. Therefore, clear knowledge about the substrate characteristics and degree of pre-treatment
requirements for specific OS are more important for D-AnBioC than W-AnBioC.

Table 3 summarizes the characteristics of various OS and its Methane potentials.

Generally, the methane emission potential of the substrate is calculated using
simple laboratory incubation tests, which is developed to select the appropriate
substrate for D-AnBioC at the preliminary stage. The fermentation test (GB21) and biochemical
methane potential (BMP) are two different methods available for the screening of OS and in
calculating CH4 yield. The BMP test is originally proposed by Owens and hynoweth (1993) and
generally carried out in serum bottles with 20 % (v/v) inocula. Total incubation period is for 60
days (minimum) and 120 days (maximum) under 37 C (mesophilic) or 55 C (thermophilic)
temperature. The GB21 test is modified from the BMP test and developed specifically for the
selection of OS for D-AnBioC application. This is based on a 21-day incubation study. While
this test can vary in length (28-day test, GB28), 21 days is the preferred length of time (Binner et
al. 1999). There are other methods, such as the incubation test-GS90 and BM100, etc., also
developed by different authors, to enable understanding of the biodegradability of the OS.
Supplementary details are presented in a later section (Wagland et al. 2009). It was reported that
the GS90 test results correlated at more than 95 %with the GB21 test results (Binner et al. 1999).
However, the authors concluded that the test duration of 21100 days (used in various
biodegradability studies) are not practically applicable for routine analysis due to the time scale
for getting reliable data, as well as the financial and operational implications in the field. Other
aerobic test methods used in place of anaerobic testmethods (GB21, BMP, GS90, etc.), or
enzymatic degradation methods (ECD-enzymatic cellulose degradation; EHT-enzymatic
hydrolysis test), are highlighted. Available aerobic methods include: specific oxygen uptake rate
(SOUR), respiration index (RI), static respiration index (SRI), dynamic respiration index (DRI),
dynamic respiration over 4 days (DR4), and German static respiration index (AT4 and AT7 over
4 and 7 days of analysis, respectively). Analysis time varied from 4 h (minimum) to 8 days
(maximum) to get reliable results. It reported that the correlation factors (R2) were: (1) 0.80 for
GB21 to AT4 test (Cossu and Raga 2008); (2) 0.650.87 for BMP to ECD test (Rodriguez et al.
2005); and (3) 0.83 for GS90 to AT7 test (Binner et al. 1999). Thus, the GB21, BMP and GS90
test results can be calculated easily from short term aerobic tests using AT4, ECD and AT7
methods, respectively.

The major cost factor involved in designing a particular treatment system relies mainly on the quantity and quality
of the OS to be potentially handled. Besides OS quality, other cost factors include: collection, transportation,
segregation, pretreatment, and operation and maintenance costs along with manpower cost in the centralized design.
However, the D-AnBioC systems seem to be more economical than W-AnBioC in treating OS because of the
following: a smaller reactor volume, no internal mixing arrangement for continuous mixing (in some cases), can
handle a variety of feed stocks, and can attain maximum CH 4 yield. While the multi-stage D-AnBioC system is more
expensive to build and maintain, total CH4 yield is much higher to offset the cost factor (Ward et al. 2008). In many
places, the designed centralized facilities were reported to obtain insufficient feed stocks to operate at their full
capacities throughout the year, thus, net gain tended towards a negative value. On the other hand, it is analyzed that
the decentralized systems can be used to substitute major costs involved in collection, transportation and segregation
to maximize the total economic gain (Appels et al. 2011; Zeshan et al. 2012). Therefore, the understanding of OS
flow and its characteristics are important in the design of the D-AnBioC systems in order to meet the objective of
safe disposal practices as well as to mitigate associated environmental impacts.

A number of commercial plants, pilot plants and proto-type bio-reactors to treat OS have been developed using the
D-AnBioC processes. Four major considerations with the bio-reactor design for continuous operations include:
(a) Organic Loading Rate (OLR)The OLR is a measure of the biological conversion capacity of the
anaerobic system. The OLR is calculated as per Eqs. (3, 4) below;

where OLR = organic loading rate (kg substrate/m3 digester/day), RT = Retention time (days), S =
substrate concentration (kg substrate in terms of TVS), V = volume of the digester/bioreactor (m3), Q
= flow rate (m3/day). The OLR evaluates the efficiency of a digester, required food-to-microbes (F/M)
ratio, and overall process performance (Jha et al. 2011). For the D-AnBioC processes, higher TS
content results in a corresponding decrease in reactor volume. Thus, it enables a higher volumetric
OLR between 12 and 15 kg VS/m3/day during continuous bioreactor operations (Nizami and Murphy
2010; Guendouz et al. 2010). Whereas, W-AnBioC can work with a maximum OLR of 5 kg
VS/m3/day (Nizami and Murphy 2010). Duan et al. (2012) highlighted that the D-An- BioC system
can support 46 times higher OLR and obtain similar CH4 yield and VS reduction as the conventional
W-AnBioC system.
(b) Solid/Digestate Retention Time (SRT)SRT is basically a ratio between volumetric inflow and
outflow of OS with respect to time. It is the average time solids reside within the digester (Appels et al.
2008). The SRT is mainly associated with the function stability of the reactor. At a minimum of 14
days and a maximum of 60 days, the SRT is reported to be experimented with the D-AnBioC system
for various feed stocks (Nayono et al. 2009; Nizami and Murphy 2010). A more efficient system
required less SRT with maximum biogas yield at a given OLR and possible with the thermophilic
system operations (Jha et al. 2011; Zeshan et al. 2012).
(c) Hydraulic Retention Time (HRT)Generally, HRT will be less considered in the D-AnBioC process
and more closely associated with the SRT because of the high-solid operations. But, in the case of two-
stage or multi-stage D-AnBioC systems, the HRT plays a major role in the redistribution of nutrients
and micro-organisms in the reactors from one phase to another by leachate exchange practices. Some
of the best examples are the DiCOM, SEBAC, Leachbed and Biocel processes. Around 320 m3 of
liquor is exchanged in DiCOM process during the An-BioC of OF-MSW at an HRT of 12 days
(Walkeret al. 2012). Similarly, in SEBAC, a minimum of 13 days HRT is reported. Thus, it is another
 important parameter in the design of the D-An-BioC system for OS. HRT needs to be given more
focus in terms of research aspects in near future.
(d) CH4 YieldMaximizing CH4 yield is of prime importance with the bioreactor design and plays a key
role in manipulating operation conditions. Depending upon the OS characteristics and degree of pre-
treatment levels, the yield can be maximized by providing appropriate external conditions. Kim and Oh
(2011) reported a high gas production rate of 5 m3/m3/day from food waste mixed with paper waste in
co-digestion studies. A biogas production rate up to 6 m3/m3/ day was previously reported by
Kayhanian and Tchobanoglous (1993) and Pavan et al. (2000), whereas Mumme et al.(2010) reported
5.3 m3/ m3/day at OLR of 12.7 kg VS/m3/day for a mixture of maize silage and barley straw. For OF-
MSW, under thermophilic conditions with the OLR at 2.5 kg VS/m3/day, a maximum CH4 yield of
278.4 L CH4/kg of VS reduction was reported (Chaudhary et al. 2009). A maximum biogas yield of
327 L/kg VSadded and a minimum of 121 L/kg VSadded were reported with the 2.6 and 10.7 kg
VS/m3/day OLR in thermophilic D-AnBioC system, respectively (Zeshan et al. 2012). As mentioned
earlier, the OLR, SRT, HRT and CH4 yield are closely interlinked parameters and need to be
considered while designing the D-AnBioC system for OS (as shown in Fig. 1) (also supported by Ward
et al. 2008; Nizami and Murphy 2010; Zeshan et al. 2012). These four major factors are mainly
influenced by other associated variables such as OS characteristics, OS flow, temperature, digestate
recirculation rate, and inhibiting substrates. There are a number of commercial plants designed and
operated with varying conditions as listed in Table 4. Most of the industrial-scale units built prior to
the 1980s relied mainly on W-AnBioC processes.