Biotechnology for Zero Waste – Emerging Waste Management Techniques (Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain (editor) etc.)

Anaerobic Co-digestion as a Smart Approach for Enhanced

Biogas Production and Simultaneous Treatment of Different

Wastes

S. Bharathi and B. J. Yogesh

Bangalore University, The Oxford College of Science, Department of Microbiology, Sector 4, H.S.R Layout,

Bangalore, 560102, India

1.1

Introduction

The world has witnessed tremendous growth over the past hundred years fueled

by richness of earth’s natural resources, but now we stare at the bleak prospects

of exhaustion due to overutilization. With future economies balanced precariously

on cost of fuel, with increasing demand for energy, ever-increasing annual fuel

consumption, limited natural resources, volatility and disruption in fossil energy

supplies, need of clean technologies has certainly driven us toward a pragmatic

approach for optimized and proper use of natural resource for a sustainable ecosys-

tem. Insightful planning and innovative methods are essential to enhance energy

production in order to meet surge in future energy demands. Another scourge of

the modern society is waste management; especially in the developing economies

punctuated by improvement in individual purchase parity, it has led to tripling of

waste generation per person just over the last one decade. An attempt is made in this

chapter to link these two possible issues of fuel generation and waste management

through a biotechnological intervention. The era of biotechnology as a futuristic

technology strives to tap the service of the potential saprophytic microbes, which

not only hastens the recycling of dead organic matter but can provide the fuel for

running the future economy.

1.1.1

Biodegradation – Nature’s Art of Recycling

The elemental components of our periodic table have finely blended the earth into

molecules of infinite diversity. The organic forms of molecules are the basis of life

existence in which the principal elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen

have a subtle role in the formation of living system. The photosynthetic forms of life

are one of the biggest producers of the organic matter, and it comes with an inherent

clause of undergoing natural degradation over a period of time. This biodegradation

is a very important invention of the nature, for, without recycling, a continuous exis-

tence of new life over millions of years would have been impossible. Microorganisms

Biotechnology for Zero Waste: Emerging Waste Management Techniques, First Edition.

Edited by Chaudhery Mustansar Hussain and Ravi Kumar Kadeppagari.