Stage I. Discrete decision analysis. Given the early stage of encapsulated anaerobic system R&D, the most promising system configuration remains highly uncertain. To explore the broad landscape of possible designs for high strength wastewater distributed treatment and resource recovery, we evaluated 3,552 distinct combinations of 11 design or operation decisions (Figure ) and determined the levelized cost and life cycle environmental impacts of COD removal. We HRT (1 day, 2 days, 4 days, or 12 days) were varied for all system configurations. Detailed simulation settings for all system configurations can be found in Section S4.