The drivers that stimulate commercial interest to implement AD include a complex set of economic, business, energy, environmental, and sociopolitical factors that are interactive and may be weighted differently for each AD implementation opportu­nity. The economic and business drivers relate to those that directly contribute to the profitability of an AD project through the rate of return on the investment. These drivers include (1) the revenues that can be realized by the production of biogas and other byproducts (e. g., fertilizer), (2) the cost savings derived from reduced waste disposal, (3) governmental credits (e. g., renewable energy credits, environmental credits, and carbon credits) that are earned by implementation of a AD project, and (4) potential business growth that results from overcoming the limitations posed by storage and disposal of the wastes generated from core business operations. Firstly, earned revenue from an AD project can be gained from sale of the bio­gas as fuel or energy produced therefrom. Additional revenue can be generated by receiving wastes from other factories or farms. A spillover benefit of such “service” is enhanced AD efficiency and process stability resulting from co-digestion of two or more types of biomass wastes. Secondly, AD is a proven technology to reduce pollution, and thus its implementation can reduce or eliminate the fees paid to the government for waste discharge or disposal. Depending on the nature and amounts of wastes, this saving can be substantial. Thirdly, methane biogas produced from AD of biomass wastes can replace fossil fuels, therefore implementation of AD should earn environmental and carbon credits as well as renewable energy credits that can be sold for additional revenues. Finally, for many factories or farms that produce large amounts of biomass wastes, the enterprise may be prevented from business growth by the inability to dispose of the wastes. AD can help overcome such waste disposal limitation by reducing overall waste output.

Sociopolitical factors can also drive implementation of AD, but are situation dependent and variable in type and impact. Examples include reduced odor impact on surrounding communities from handling or disposing of biomass wastes (e. g., livestock and poultry manure disposal by land application), and better perception of and public opinion on the business operation. In some circumstances, sociopo­litical factors may become a major driver to implement an AD project, superseding even the economic factors, especially in situations where the enterprise’s ability to continue its operation is threatened by public opposition to its waste storage and disposal.