In a gobar gas plant, complex insoluble polymers are converted to simple soluble monomers with the help of bacterial hydrolytic enzymes like lipases, cellulases, proteases, peptidases, etc. Anaerobic microbes like Clostridium, Pseudomonas are used for this process. Then the simple soluble monomers are further converted into organic acids, chiefly acetic acid by enzymes of acidogenic bacteria.

Methanogens are bacteria such as Methanococcus or Methanobacillus convert organic acids such as acetic acid into methane.