This article reviews the potential of anaerobic digestion (AD) for biogas production from livestock manure wastes and compares the operating and performance data for various anaerobic process configurations. It examines different kinds of manure waste treatment techniques and the influence of several parameters on biogas and methane yield. The comparison indicates that a variety of different operational conditions, various reactor configurations such as batch reactors, continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR), plug flow reactor (PFR), up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR), temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD), and continuous one‐ and two‐stage systems, present a suitable technology for the AD of livestock manure waste. Main performance indicators are biogas and methane yield, degradation of volatile solids (VS), higher loading, and process stability with a short retention time.

Anaerobic digestion treatments have often been used for biological stabilization of solid wastes. These treatment processes generate biogas which can be used as a renewable energy sources. Recently, anaerobic digestion of solid wastes has attracted more interest because of current environmental problems, most especially those concerned with global warming. Thus, laboratory-scale research on this area has increased significantly. In this review paper, the summary of the most recent research activities covering production of biogas from solid wastes according to its origin via various anaerobic technologies was presented.

Biogas produced from lignocellulosic biomass, e.g. animal manure, has the potential to be a promising renewable energy source. Special emphasis has been placed on animal manure pretreatment in an anaerobic digestion as a means of enhancing biogas yield. Here, we review the existing pretreatment methods of anaerobic digestion with regard to their effects on the conversion of animal manure to biogas. Various methods and their challenges are highlighted. The effects of pretreatment are complex and usually depend on the animal waste characteristics and the method of choice. In general, pretreatment enhances the anaerobic digestion of the lignocellulosic content of the animal manure, by increasing the methane yield in similar operating conditions as those without the pretreatment.

A literature review has been undertaken to investigate the potential of anaerobic digestion for material recovery and energy production from cattle manure. These wastes constitute 8-20% total solid, with a volatile solid content of 70-85%. The biodegradable fractions include about 11% hemicellulose, 26-53% cellulose, and 11% lignin. Anaerobic digestion of cattle manure was studied under various operating conditions using different types of bioreactors and it allows the conversion of 50-75% of organic matter to methane with an organic loading rate of 1-6 g VS/L day. Continuous two-stage configuration involving a first-stage thermophilic reactor and mesophilic second reactor emerges to be superior and the most effective technologies for anaerobic digestion of cattle manure. It was demonstrated that 41% of volatile solids were converted to methane at an organic loading rate of 5.82 g VS/L day. The methane yield was found to be 620 L/kg VS added.