Review Treatment of textile wastewater with membrane bioreactor: A critical review Veeriah Jegatheesan a,⇑ , Biplob Kumar Pramanik a , Jingyu Chen b , Dimuth Navaratna c , Chia-Yuan Chang d , Li Shu a a School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne 3001, Australia b School of Engineering, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds Campus, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia c College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, Footscray Park Campus, Ballarat Road, Footscray, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia d Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan 71710, Taiwan highlights  Suitability of MBR for dye wastewater treatment is reviewed.  MBR is suitable for end-of-pipe treatment compared to other processes.  MBR combined with MF, UF, NF, MD can assist to recover dyes and reuse treated water.  When RO is added to MBR, salts can be recovered.  When FO/RO system is added to MBR, brine discharge from RO can be minimised. graphical abstract article info Article history: Received 13 November 2015 Received in revised form 2 January 2016 Accepted 5 January 2016 Available online 8 January 2016 Keywords: Fouling Membrane bioreactor Textile wastewater Sludge retention time abstract Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has been used widely for various industrial wastewater treat- ments due to its distinct advantages over conventional bioreactors. Treatment of textile wastewater using MBR has been investigated as a simple, reliable and cost-effective process with a significant removal of contaminants. However, a major drawback in the operation of MBR is membrane fouling, which leads to the decline in permeate flux and therefore requires membrane cleaning. This eventually decreases the lifespan of the membrane. In this paper, the application of aerobic and anaerobic MBR for textile wastewater treatment as well as fouling and control of fouling in MBR processes have been reviewed. It has been found that long sludge retention time increases the degradation of pollutants by allowing slow growing microorganisms to establish but also contributes to membrane fouling. Further research aspects of MBR for textile wastewater treatment are also considered for sustainable operations of the process. Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Textile industry and its generation of wastewater Increasing industrialisation has led to severe environmental pollution and it has now become a global issue. It is recorded that more than 100,000 commercially available textile dyes are present in the market and approximately 700,000–1,000,000 tons of dyes are produced while 280,000 tons are discharged (Ali, 2010) via effluents generated from the textile industry to the global environ- ment annually. Thus, textile industry is one of the most significant manufacturing sectors that produce large volumes of highly polluted and toxic wastewater. The World Bank estimates that 17–20% of industrial water pollution is contributed by the textile industry (Kant, 2012). Increasing the discharge of such effluents http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.01.006 0960-8524/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: jega.jegatheesan@rmit.edu.au (V. Jegatheesan). Bioresource Technology 204 (2016) 202–212 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Bioresource Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech