Anaerobic digestion is a promising method for energy recovery through conversion of organic waste to biogas and other industrial valuables. However, to tap the full potential of anaerobic digestion, deciphering the microbial metabolic pathway activities and their underlying bioenergetics is required. In addition, the behavior of organisms in consortia along with the analytical abilities to kinetically measure their metabolic interactions will allow rational optimization of the process. This review aims to explore the metabolic bottlenecks of the microbial communities adopting latest advances of profiling and ¹³C tracer-based analysis using state of the art analytical platforms (GC, GC-MS, LC-MS, NMR). The review summarizes the phases of anaerobic digestion, the role of microbial communities, key process parameters of significance, syntrophic microbial interactions and the bottlenecks that are critical for optimal bioenergetics and enhanced production of valuables. Considerations into the designing of efficient synthetic microbial communities as well as the latest advances in capturing their metabolic cross talk will be highlighted. The review further explores how the presence of additives and inhibiting factors affect the metabolic pathways. The critical insight into the reaction mechanism covered in this review may be helpful to optimize and upgrade the anaerobic digestion system.

厌氧消化是一种通过将有机废物转化为沼气和其他工业价值来回收能量的有前景的方法。然而，为了充分挖掘厌氧消化的潜力，需要破译微生物代谢途径活动及其潜在的生物能量学。此外，联合体中生物体的行为以及动力学测量其代谢相互作用的分析能力将允许对该过程进行合理优化。本综述旨在探索微生物群落的代谢瓶颈，采用最新的分析和¹³使用最先进的分析平台（GC、GC-MS、LC-MS、NMR）进行基于 C 示踪剂的分析。该综述总结了厌氧消化的各个阶段、微生物群落的作用、重要的关键过程参数、共养微生物相互作用以及对于优化生物能量学和提高有价值物质生产至关重要的瓶颈。将重点介绍对设计高效合成微生物群落以及捕获其代谢串扰的最新进展的考虑。该综述进一步探讨了添加剂和抑制因子的存在如何影响代谢途径。本综述中对反应机制的批判性见解可能有助于优化和升级厌氧消化系统。