Abstract: Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) is a promising technology for sustainable domestic wastewater (DWW) treatment, enabling energy, water, and nutrients recovery at low biomass production rates. However, membrane fouling remains a major challenge, increasing costs and limiting long-term performance. While fouling is often attributed to biomass components like extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), the mechanisms linking biomass responses to operational conditions and fouling remain poorly understood. This study presents a mechanistic framework for AnMBR fouling, demonstrating how changes in organic loading rate (OLR) and coagulant addition influence sludge rheology, sludge dewaterability, EPS hydration and viscoelasticity, and ultimately affecting membrane fouling propensity. Parallel investigations at lab- and pilot-scale AnMBR systems treating real DWW provide a unique comparison between controlled and real-world conditions. Our integrated microscale-to-macroscale approach captures the complexity of biomass behavior. On the microscale, EPS hydration and viscoelasticity were analyzed using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). On the macroscale, dynamic rheometry, sludge volume index (SVI), and capillary suction time (CST) quantified biomass stability and dewaterability, while optical coherence tomography (OCT) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed biomass floc structure and fouling layer formation. Our findings provide an expansive explanation of how OLR and coagulant addition affect biomass destabilization and membrane fouling in AnMBR for DWW treatment, paving the way for improved fouling mitigation strategies and contributing to more stable and cost-effective AnMBR operations.

Bio- Moshe Herzberg is a full professor at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research in Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, ISRAEL, appointed as a faculty member, since 2007. Prof. Herzberg did his postdoctoral training in Yale University and received both a PhD in Agricultural Engineering and BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. Prof. Herzberg's research interests focus on microbial biofilms, biofouling and fouling of membranes, interfacial processes that relate to membrane separation and "anti-fouling" modified-membranes. Prof. Herzberg is an author of 90 scientific publications and more than 140 presentations and seminars. He serves as a co-leader of the CoWERC, the US-Israel Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center. Prof. Herzberg is currently performing an enhanced synergistic collaboration with different scientists and industries around the world, from Jordan, Italy, the united-states, and Israel.