The factors affecting the production of biogas are mainly based on the operating conditions of the digester, such as pH and temperature which influence directly the micro-organisms. The perturbations in effluent (including the concentration of substrate and its composition in toxic compounds and inhibitors) can also affect the volume and the quality of the produced biogas. Sometimes, the toxic compounds are not present at the beginning in the effluent waste, but they are produced inside the digester starting from degradation of substrate (example: VFA and ammonia).

2.1 Substrate

The type and the composition of the substrate determine directly the quality of the produced biogas. In anaerobic process the substrate is often measured in term of chemical oxygen demand (COD) or of total volatile solids (TVS). It is significant to distinguish between the degradable and the inert fraction, because a considerable fraction of the COD in effluent is inert (Nielsen, 2006). The waste which contains a high percentage of water has a weak methane yield by COD or VS.

Organic waste contains various compounds: mainly saccharides (which are divided into two fractions, easily and slowly degradables), lipids (easily degradable), proteins (easily degradable), VFA (easily degradable), as well as others compounds (Moosbrugger & al., 1993). The production of methane is generally in the range from 100 to 400 L CH4 / kg VS.

On the other hand, the majority of organic waste contain a high fraction of the substrate easily degradable, which gives a high production of methane and VFA. It is thus significant to control the organic and hydraulic loading according to the capacity of the digester when the process functions are at low charge that gives also a low production rate of biogas. Although this can prevent the rupture of the process, it is not very ecomical because the capacity of the process is not completly used. The increase in the charge gives more biogas but also there is the risk of the overload, with, as a consequence, the accumulation of the VFA. The high concentration of VFA decreases the pH and making them more toxic for methanogens bacteria.

with others like sulphur, the phosphorus, the potassium, the calcium, the magnesium and the iron which are required (McMahon & al., 2001). The majority of the nutriments can be inhibiting if they are present at high concentrations.