OPEN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE Volume 1, Number 1, MAY 2014 OPEN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE Anaerobic Fermentation of Industrial Wastewater (Review Article) Randa M. Osman* Chemical Engineering and Pilot Plant Department, Engineering Research Division, National Research Center, Egypt. *Corresponding author: randa.osman@yahoo.com Abstract: Anaerobic Digestion is a series of chemical reactions during which organic material is decom- posed through the metabolic pathways of naturally occurring microorganisms in an oxygen- depleted environment. In nature this type of breakdown typically occurs in warm wet and dark environments, such as in the digestive tracts. The microorganisms are exploited in the biotech- nological process of anaerobic digestion both to reduce the pollution caused by organic wastes and to produce methane, which can be used as a fuel. The number and types of microorganisms present in digesters are likely to depend upon the type of digester, its operating conditions and the waste composition. Anaerobic Digesters can be used on any carbon containing industrial wastewater i.e. food processing; pulp and paper; sugar and distillery; slaughterhouse; cheese whey and diary units; brewing industry and municipal sludge. Also, they provide an effective method for turning residues from different wastes, biogas (rich in methane which can be used to generate heat and/or electricity); fiber (this can be used as a nutrient-rich soil conditioner) and liquor (this can be used as liquid fertilizer). In the review paper, the special emphasis on some of the environmental requirements; indicators of treatment unbalance; types of high rate anaerobic reactors; the application of anaerobic fermentation of selected high strength industrial wastewaters; modelling of anaerobic digestion, and finally, there is a case study. Keywords: Anaerobic Fermentation; Application; Industrial Wastewater; Types of Anaerobic Reactors; Modeling; Case Study 1. INTRODUCTION The building of a sustainable society will require reduction of dependency on fossil fuels and lowering of the amount of pollution that is generated. Wastewater treatment is an area in which these two goals can be addressed simultaneously. As a result, there has been a paradigm shift recently, from disposing of waste to using it. There are several biological processing strategies that produce bioenergy or biochemicals while treating industrial and agricultural wastewater, including methanogenic anaerobic digestion, biological hydrogen production, microbial fuel cells and fermentation for production of valuable products [1]. Fermentation is commonly defined as the process is which energy is formed by the process of oxidation of organic compounds like carbohydrates and sugars. This leads to conversion of these organic compounds into an acid or an alcohol which provides energy. It can be carried out by microorganisms with the help 50