title: Low-temperature anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment.
abstract: Methanogenesis is an important biogeochemical process for the degradation of organic matter within cold environments, and is associated with the release of the potent greenhouse gas, methane. Cold methanogenesis has been harnessed, in engineered systems, as low-temperature anaerobic digestion (LTAD) for wastewater treatment and bioenergy generation. LTAD represents a nascent wastewater treatment biotechnology, which offers an attractive alternative to conventional aerobic and anaerobic processes. Successful, high-rate, LTAD of sewage and industrial wastewaters (e.g. from the brewery, food-processing and pharmaceutical sectors), with concomitant biogas generation, has been demonstrated at laboratory-scale and pilot-scale. A holistic, polyphasic approach, which integrates bioprocess, physiological and molecular biological datasets has been critical to the development of the LTAD concept.
authors.affiliation: Microbial Ecology Laboratory, Microbiology, School of Natural Sciences and Ryan Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.
authors.forename: Rory M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: McKeown
authors.forename: Dermot
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Gavin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Thérèse
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mahony
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: O'Flaherty
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology; D003080:Cold Temperature; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry; D062065:Wastewater / Q000382:microbiology*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008697:Methane; D012722:Sewage; D062065:Wastewater