Resumen:
Anaerobic digestion (AD) offers enormous potential towards a sustainable bioeconomy.
AD is suitable for waste management of various sources and generates value in multiple
sectors such as electricity, heating, or agriculture through biogas or fertilizer production.
However, attention must be paid to cheap fertilizers such as digestates because these
digested fractions contain heavy metals, (nano) microplastics, hormones, and other
chemical compounds that, when accessible, can be detrimental to humans, animals,
plants and the environment. Digestates originating from manure substrates should be
monitored to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes to the environment.
Digestate toxicity can be a problem for aquatic and terrestrial organisms as determined
by bioassays to detect the adverse consequences of digestate applied to the soil.
Anaerobic digestate must meet specified quality requirements prior to utilization in the
soil or crops to prevent dangers to human health and the environment. The digestate is
available in three forms: whole, liquid, and solid, and can be applied to the soil as a final
disposal location if it complies with applicable regulatory standards and is classified as
a ‘product’
