absolute difference to fluidized bed and -5.0%-11.8% to packed bed) and was generally predicted to outperform them both economically and environmentally (Figure ). However, UASBs often require skilled labor for operation and their performance can be sensitive to changes in organic loading due to influent fluctuations: this has limited onsite deployment of UASBs at small-or medium-scale industries. As a result, although a UASB offers a useful technological comparison point, it may not be deployable or operable at the scale targeted by many encapsulation systems.