An anaerobic fluidised-bed reactor for purification of slaughterhouse wastewater was modelled as a continuous-flow, completely-mixed homogeneous microbial system, with the feed COD as the limiting-substrate concentration. The average microbial residence time in the reactor was dt;fined in terms of conventional sludge-retention-time. The experimental data obtained indicated that the Michaelis-Menten expression was applicable to a description of substrate utilisation (i.e. COD removal) in the anaerobic fluidised-bed system. The maximum substrate utilisation rate, k, and the Michaelis constant, K-s, were determined to be 1.2/day and 0.039 g/l. The observed biomass yield in the reactor decreased with increasing sludge-retention-time. The specific methane production rate observed was a linear function of the specific substrate-utilisation rate.