The anaerobic digestion (AD) process for waste stabilization is a very attractive option in managing the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW); hence, many industrial OFMSW biomethanation plants are operating today all around the world. In general, the literature contains many operational and control parameters to check the behavior of AD systems. However, in some cases, the classical parameters are not enough to explain destabilization episodes and new parameters (based on combinations and transformations among classical parameters) must be elucidated to understand the problem. Thus, this study's objective is to establish new indirect parameters (non-solubilized carbon; non-acid carbon; acidogenic substrate such as carbon) based on classical control parameters such as VS, VFA and DOC to evaluate the performance/efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of the OFMSW during a destabilization episode caused by overloading and washing-out phenomena. Thus, a study was conducted in a continuous stirrer tank reactor (CSTR) in thermophilic-dry conditions in order to determine the evolution of these new indirect parameters during a destabilization episode in order to obtain more specific information about the imbalance among the different steps involved in the AD process. This additional information may help prevent and interpret destabilization episodes in AD systems. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.