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The Microbiology and Biochemistry of Anaerobic Digestion

  • Chapter
Methane Production from Agricultural and Domestic Wastes

Part of the book series: Energy from Wastes Series ((EFWS))

Abstract

The micro-organisms concerned in the production of gas from organic material are bacteria. There is not space here to give a detailed introduction on aspects of bacterial metabolism, it must suffice to remind the reader that there are three main classes of bacteria: those which must have oxygen to grow—the aerobic bacteria; those which can metabolise and grow with or without oxygen—the facultatively anaerobic bacteria; and those which can grow only in the absence of oxygen—the anaerobic bacteria. The bacteria involved in the metabolic pathways leading from waste to biogas are all of the latter class, although as will be seen, all digesters contain aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria as well.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbiology Department, Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, UK

    P. N. Hobson, S. Bousfield & R. Summers

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  1. P. N. Hobson
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  2. S. Bousfield
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  3. R. Summers
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© 1981 Applied Science Publishers Ltd

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Hobson, P.N., Bousfield, S., Summers, R. (1981). The Microbiology and Biochemistry of Anaerobic Digestion. In: Methane Production from Agricultural and Domestic Wastes. Energy from Wastes Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8102-7_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8102-7_3

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-8104-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-8102-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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