ABSTRACT
Biomethane production is the result of a fermentative process known as anaerobic digestion (AD), in which micro-organisms decompose complex biological materials with the parallel release of methane and carbon dioxide (McCarty, 1982; Al Seadi et al., 2008; Khalid et al., 2011). The biochemical and genetic characteristics of the micro-organisms and the substrates used in AD are key factors that determine the efficiency of this process. Understanding and manipulating these components and their interactions will be important for the development of future technologies aimed at optimizing large-scale production of methane biogas for commercial use (Rittmann et al., 2008).
