ABSTRACT
Anaerobic digestion (AD) comprises a series of processes that interact for the degradation of complex organic materials by the participation of a wide microbial consortium. During AD, the microbial metabolism allows the recovery of renewable energy in the form of biogas and an organic fertilizer rich in nutrients from organic waste. A novel enhancement method to fulfill this gap is use of nanotechnology, specifically nanoparticles (NPs). Furthermore, the growing presence of NPs in everyday products, their increasing demand and their consequent disposal as waste have caused these to reach wastewater treatment plants that mainly work with anaerobic digestion processes. The addition of metal NPs can improve AD performance with increase of biogas and methane production and accelerating substrate consumption rate. Consequently, their application can reduce the retention time of biomass and energy requirements. The initial interaction of NPs with cells occurs in the plasma membrane, the permeable barrier that controls the inlet and outlet of molecules to maintain intracellular conditions.
