treatment. More than 2,000 full-scale installations are running worldwide (Van Lier, 2007) and mainly treat wastewaters containing readily degradable organic pollutants such as volatile fatty acids and carbohydrates. Lipids do not belong to this group, since their hydrolysis results in the production of long chain fatty acids (LCFA). Until recently these were considered toxic to anaerobic bacteria and a nuisance because they induce floatation of biomass (Hwu, 1997). Since the success of conventional anaerobic treatment systems is based on optimisation of biomass sedimentation, floatation leads to washout and subsequent process disruption. Therefore, lipids are normally removed from wastewater prior to anaerobic treatment using e.g. dissolved air floatation. Pereira et al. (2002) showed that lipids are not toxic and can be converted to biogas. As to prevent washout induced by LCFA adsorption, a sequential process including at least a feeding and reaction phase was proposed as the preferred technology for anaerobic LCFA removal from wastewater (Pereira et al., 2005). It was further postulated that the specific contact area between bacteria and LCFA should be maximised as to maximise LCFA adsorption and minimise mass transfer limitations. The sequential process was applied at la
