High-strength industrial discharges, e.g., brewery wastewater and biorefinery effluent , create challenges for centralized wastewater resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) that utilize energy input for the aerobic degradation of organics. Moreover, the concentrated organics in industrial wastewater represent an untapped source of renewable energy that could be recovered through distributed treatment at the industry. With the potential to convert waste organics into bioenergy and/or high-value bioproducts (e.g., medium-chain fatty acids ), anaerobic technologies have been developed and deployed as distributed alternatives to centralized aerobic treatment. Due to the slower growth rate of anaerobic microorganisms, small-or medium-scale applications of anaerobic technologies require decoupling solids residence time from hydraulic retention time (HRT) using biomass retention and separation methods. Common challenges faced by such technologies include long startup times (e.g., 1-4 months for sludge granulation ) and high maintenance requirements (e.g., fouling control for anaerobic membrane bioreactors ).