Editorial: The microbiology of the biogas process

Abstract

[Excerpt] The world is facing unprecedent challenges, related with energy crisis and climate change. Intensification of renewable energy production, with special focus on sustainable biogas and biomethane, is one of the front-line topics today. Biogas/biomethane will play a role in the transition toward climate-neutral and secure energy system. Ensuring that biomethane is produced from organic waste/wastewater is essential to support circularity and sustainability. Scaling up biomethane production and assuring its economic competitiveness are current key challenges. Biogas generation occurs in natural and engineered environments, such as anaerobic bioreactors, and involves a cascade of reactions catalyzed by complex microbial communities. To unlock and boost the full potential of waste-based biomethane production, bioprocess optimization is needed, which requires deep knowledge on microbial diversity and physiology, as well as on the complex microbial interactions and metabolic networks occurring in biogas processes. This was the motivation for launching the Research Topic “The Microbiology of the Biogas Process,” which comprises six original research articles by 48 authors, addressing different facets of the theme and resorting to diverse approaches, reflecting the complexity of the topic. [...]