TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Components: The vermireactor comprises many vermicomposting modules arranged in parallel rows.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Process: The pretreatment step includes wet pulping or converting DPW to powder form and subjecting the pulp or powdered DPW to chemical treatment, where the DPW is converted to powder form of size of less than or equal to 1 mu m, and the chemical treatment comprises treating the pulp or powdered DPW with an alkali. The water produced in step (c) is optionally re-cycled to step (b). The step of obtaining VFAs form DPW requires a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4-8 days. The conversion of VFAs to the gaseous mixture requires HRT of 6-8 hours. The conversion of spent DPW to vermicompost is accomplished at a solid retention time of 10-20 days. In the process: at least 10%, preferably 10-20% of DPW is converted to volatile fatty acids; up to 100% of the VAFs are converted to the gaseous mixture. Preferred Components: The acidogenic bacteria are provided by cow manure. The earthworms are from Eisenia spp., Eudrilus spp., Perionyx spp., Lumbricus spp. and/or Drawida spp., including Eisenia fetida, Perionyx excavates (both preferred), Eisenia andrei, Eudrilus eugeniae, Lumbricus rubellus and/or Drawida willsi. EXAMPLE - Dried date palm waste (DPW), consisting of all constitutes of date palm tree except date flesh, was crushed to a powder in ball mill to obtain particle sizes of 1 mu m and lower. Measured quantities of the waste were soaked in aqueous sodium hydroxide to give a typical composition of 100 g waste and 15 g sodium hydroxide per liter. After soaking for 24 hours, the liquid was drained off for reuse and the pH of the soaked DPW was adjusted to 7 plus minus 0.5 with hydrochloric acid. The pretreated DPW was transferred into vessels to which 4 l of water and 50 g of fresh cow manure were added. The contents were stirred, the vessels covered with nylon mesh (to keep off insects) and left undisturbed except stirring once daily, where after 8 days 10% of DPW was converted to volatile fatty acids, which in turn, gave an equivalent quantity of a flammable gaseous mixture. The spent DPW was fed to high-rate vermireactors comprised many vermicomposting modules arranged in parallel rows and Eisenia fetida to obtain the vermicompost.