Methane Yield Database: Online infrastructure and bioresource for methane yield data and related metadata

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology and Bioengineering
• Environmental Science
• Data Science

Background:

• Methane yield data from diverse sources are crucial for anaerobic digestion research and industrial applications.
• Existing literature lacks standardized reporting of methodological approaches, hindering data comparability and meta-analysis.
• A centralized, community-supported bioresource is needed to consolidate and validate methane yield data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a community-supported online infrastructure and bioresource for methane yield data.
• To collect and curate methane yield data and associated metadata from published literature.
• To analyze data reporting congruence and identify sources of variability in methane yield measurements.

Main Methods:

• Assembled a dataset of 1164 entries with 15,749 data points from published literature.
• Analyzed the congruence of reported methodological approaches across different studies.
• Investigated the influence of experimental factors such as substrate batches, experimental scales (volumes), incubation temperature, and volatile solids (% VS) on methane yields.

Main Results:

• Identified significant variability in reported methane yields, with authorship (substrate batches) being the largest identifiable source.
• Experimental factors including scale, temperature, and % VS significantly influenced methane yields (p < 0.05).
• Over 63% of the variability in methane yield data remained unexplained, indicating substantial data gaps and inconsistencies.

Conclusions:

• Current reporting practices in methane yield literature lack standardization, limiting data utility.
• Reconsideration of data reporting approaches is necessary to enhance the reliability and applicability of published findings.
• Improved data standardization will increase the capacity to support industrial decision-making in the bioenergy sector.