Balanced system and method for production of microbial output

A method for processing organic material in a four-phase bioreactor system into a final product containing microbial consortiums and by-products with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of less than 150 mg/L, wherein movement of said organic material from one phase to the next is hydraulically balanced, and wherein the temperature of said process is maintained between 29° C. and 39° C., the method comprising:

• (a) adding organic feedstock comprising the organic material to said four-phase bioreactor system at a feed rate in a range of 0.001 to about 0.1 pound of organic feedstock per cubic foot of a total working capacity of said four-phase bioreactor system per day;
• (b) passing a working fluid containing said organic material through said four-phase bioreactor system while the working fluid is subjected to four phases comprising:
• (i) a first phase in which said organic material is hydrolyzed to obtain a material of step (i), and in which microbes having methanogen and sulfur-reducing metabolisms, as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, have dominance;
• (ii) a second phase in which said material of step (i) is subject to acidogenesis and acetogenesis to obtain a material of step (ii) which comprises methanogenic precursors hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and acetate;
• (iii) a third phase conducted in a plurality of packed bed reactors to obtain a material of step (iii) wherein each packed bed reactor comprises a fixed media providing a platform for anchoring biofilm and wherein said methanogenic precursors of the material of step (ii) are subjected to methanogenesis and converted to methane, the methane is subjected to methanotrophy, methanotrophs are more abundant than methanogens in the working fluid of said third phase, and at least a portion of the material of step (ii) is subjected to nitrification;
• and
• (iv) a fourth phase, in which said material of step (iii) is stabilized to produce said final product.