Environmental advances due to the integration of food industries and anaerobic digestion for biogas production: perspectives of the Italian milk and dairy product branch

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biotechnology that is able to produce an energy vector from waste organic materials. Its inclusion in the food industries, especially if farming activities are present, represents an interesting perspective. This work reviews the main aspects of the inclusion of AD in milk and dairy production. It includes an analysis of the sector characteristics in terms of diffusion, a discussion of waste production and disposal concerning milk and dairy production, a description of the biological and technological aspects of AD, a discussion regarding the application of AD for milk by-products, a description of environmental and legislative aspects, and the suggestion of an integrated model that includes the anaerobic co-digestion of whey and cattle slurry in the milk and dairy production industries. Both environmental and economic impacts of such integration promise to pay for the preliminary investment in AD plant installation and the development of additional expertise.