From Organic Waste to Bioenergy: Efficiency, Reliability and Safety Aspects Relating to Biogas Production, Purification and Utilization

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising and consolidated biological process used to treat organic solid wastes and produce biogas, recovering both energy and rich in nitrogen material (digestate) while reducing the amount of waste to be disposed. Despite the experience gained over the last years, still represent critical points for AD the efficiency as well as the reliability f the process and the safety of the biogas storage and utilization. Biogas is a mixture of different organic and inorganic gases. A lack of knowledge of proper biogas management could result into accidents due to the formation of explosive mixture both inside and outside the buildings. These relevant aspects are discussed and for each of them is provided a detailed description and a critical analysis of the modern systems used to reduce the uncertainty on the expected results and also to increase the safety of biogas production, purification and utilization