eng Oriental Scientific Publishing Company Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 0973-1245 2015-04-28 12 1 355 359 5672 article G. Selvam 1 A. Ganesh Kumar 2 Department of Environmental Engineering, Sathyabama University, Chennai, India. Marine Biotechnology Division, NIOT, India. To enhance the treatment of tannery wastewater a combined system consisting of acidogenic batch digester and packed-bed bioreactor, using wood chips activated carbon (WCAC) material as immobilization support has been designed. In combined treatment, the COD removal percentage reached a maximum of 80-90% with high organic loading rate (OLR). Acidogenic microbial consortium developed on WCAC was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses elucidated the degradation of complex organics and metabolites formed during treatment process. The potential of acidogenic consortium to treat complex tannery effluent provides significant insight into possible application in treatment of effluent containing diverse groups of organics. https://www.biotech-asia.org/vol12no1/performance-of-acidogenic-microbial-treatment-process-of-tannery-wastewater-in-batch-digester-and-packed-bed-reactor/ Acidogenic microorganisms; Packed bed reactor; Tannery wastewater; Long Chain Fatty Acids; degradation