Digestate: a systematic review of its sources, treatments and industrial applications

Carla Jesus F.-V.; Nayeli Grisseth T.-C.; Gerby Giovanna R.-S. · Proceedings of the LACCEI international Multi-conference for Engineering, Education and Technology (2025) · DOI: 10.18687/leird2025.1.1.734

Resumen

Digestate, a byproduct generated from anaerobic digestion, is presented as an input with potential for industrial use from organic waste and industrial waste; however, its use still faces limitations due to the variability of its quality in terms of its composition. From this, we sought to identify and analyse the most effective treatments applied to digestate in order to recognize its properties and applications in the industry, considering the source from which they come. To do this, the PICO strategy was used, with which the search equation was obtained, obtaining 1,366 documents in the Scopus database from the last 5 years. For screening, the PRISMA methodology was applied, where the necessary inclusion and exclusion criteria were used. Then, 51 open-access articles were selected, which were used for this systematic literature review. The results showed that the most used treatments were solid-liquid separation, hydrothermal carbonization, and membrane treatment. Regarding the most commonly used waste types, these were pig and cattle manure, agricultural waste, and sewage sludge, all of which are used primarily in the agricultural sector as fertilizer, and some in the energy sector due to their high carbon content. Likewise, it is concluded that digestate, when properly treated, can become a key resource for promoting the circular economy in industries, as well as for sustainability, since the use of waste represents an opportunity to reduce negative environmental impacts. © LEIRD 2025.All rights reserved.

Instituciones: Universidad Tecnológica del Perú