The operating costs are typically much greater for aerobic digestion than for anaerobic digestion because of energy used by the blowers, pumps and motors needed to add oxygen to the process. However, recent technological advances include non-electrically aerated filter systems that use natural air currents for the aeration instead of electrically operated machinery.
The digested sludge is relatively low in residual energy and although it can be dried and incinerated to produce heat, the energy yield is very much lower than that produced by anaerobic digestion.