Resource recovery from food waste via anaerobic digestion process

Food waste (FW) and aggregation are emerging as major worldwide problems as the world population is aging. The exponential growth of FW poses grave threats to our society, including environmental contamination, health concerns, and a shortage of disposal space. Best management practices must be put into place immediately in order to lessen the stress of FW. The majority of FW is composed of starch, amino acids, fatty acids, and traces of inert matter. Depending on the type of FW and its ingredients, the composition varies. In bioprocesses, particularly anaerobic digestion (AD), FW can be used as a suitable material for the synthesis of renewables and biobased products. Therein, several products, including H2/CH4, COOH, carbohydrates, and proteins, are produced as a result of various processes throughout the digestion process without oxygen. Based on this idea, the valorization of FW may also produce biodiesel, biopolymer, bioelectricity, and biofertilizer when a number of bioprocesses are combined. AD technology development might help the circular bioeconomy by enabling the source recovery method. This chapter emphasizes the composition of FW along with country-wise generation. Moreover, the main focus will be on elucidating various steps involved in the AD process for bioenergy and bioresource recovery from FW, limitation of processes, etc.