Technologies and Challenges to Recover Energy Products from Carbohydrate Rich Effluents: A Mini Review

Author(s): Dolly Kumari, Ravi Kant Bhatia, Radhika Singh

In present a large variety of effluents is available which is the result of exhaustive use of fresh water forms and human activities. The energy generation from carbohydrate rich effluents is a very fruitful approach in the present era when energy demand is enhancing day by day with population growth. Domestic as well as industrial discharge is taking place of fresh water in water resources like rivers, lakes, ponds etc. because of lack of recycling and mixing of drained water to fresh water resources. Various methods and technologies are in use for energy recovery from effluents but most of them are expensive due to high energy consumption or use of expensive chemicals and instruments in the recovery process. This review deals with methods-technologies used in energy recovery process from carbohydrate rich effluents (CREs) and the challenges faced during the energy recovery process. There are various methods including aerobic and anaerobic digestion (AD) for methane and biogas production, bio solid incineration for bioelectricity production and bio-electrochemical system (BES) for bio-hydrogen, methane and bioelectricity generation.