Overview of the Oldest Existing Set of Substrate-optimized Anaerobic Processes: Digestive Tracts

Over millions of years, living organisms have explored and optimized the digestion of a wide variety of substrates. Engineers who develop anaerobic digestion processes for waste treatment and energy production can learn much from this accumulated ‘experience’. The aim of this work is a survey based on the comparison of 190 digestive tracts (vertebrate and insect) considered as ‘reactors’ and their anaerobic processes. Within a digestive tract, each organ is modeled as a type of reactor (continuous stirred-tank, such reactors in series, plug-flow or batch) associated with chemical aspects such as pH or enzymes. Based on this analysis, each complete digestion process has been rebuilt and classified in accordance with basic structures which take into account the relative size of the different reactors. The results show that all animal digestive structures can be grouped within four basic types. Size and/or position in the structure of the different reactors (pre/post treatment and anaerobic microbial digestion) are closely correlated to the degradability of the feed (substrate). Major common features are: (i) grinding, (ii) an extreme pH compartment, and (iii) correlation between the size of the microbial compartment and the degradability of the feed. Thus, shared answers found by animals during their evolution can be a source of inspiration for engineers in designing optimal anaerobic processes.