With the rising demand for renewable energy and environmental protection, anaerobic anaerobic digestion technology for biogas production has attracted considerable attention around the world. Anaerobic digestion is a biological process that converts organic matter into a methane rich gas. It is a well established technology for the treatment of waste and effluents with high organic content, from industrial processes and domestic activities. In this study, vinasse, a by-product of the sugar and alcohol industry and dairy effluent, a by-product of the dairy industry, were evaluated for biogas production in a UASB reactor. The organic effluents used in this work were collected from large industries located in Brazil and Germany. For the anaerobic digestion of the vinasse and the lactic effluent, a UASB reactor UASB was used in laboratory scale, with a mesophilic temperature and with a capacity of 87 L. For digestion of the vinasse, the UASB reactor operated for 15 days, with COV of 2 Kg COD m-3 d-3 and TDH of 11.5 days. The results obtained in this study showed a good functioning of the UASB reactor applied to vinasse. This study yielded a COD removal efficiency of 71% and an accumulated biogas volume of 1160 liters with a methane concentration of around 48 to 57%. For the digestion of dairy effluent, the UASB reactor operated for 51 days. The efficiency of the reactor from the organic loading rate of 6 kg COD m-3 d-3 and hydraulic holding time (TDH) of 11.8 was studied and its performance was evaluated by monitoring pH, COD, alkalinity ratio FOS / TAC and biogas production. The efficiency of COD removal was observed in 71.3%. The pH of the reactor was verified between 7.0-7.3 and the FOS / TAC value between 0.129-0.152. The average biogas production was observed at 85.8 liters per day, and the specific biogas volume was between 0.46-0.71 L / g COD per day. The methane content in the produced biogas, the maximum and minimum value was observed in 56.6% and 40%, respectively.
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