Over the last two decades, the presence of micro-pollutants in the wastewater stream is imposing a serious concern worldwide.Micro-pollutants are a vast group of chemical substances found in the environment at very low concentrations (ngL-1- μgL-1).These substances include synthetic organic compounds, namely pesticides, personal care, cosmetic products, industrial chemicals, food additives and detergents, and also some naturally occurring substances such as estrogens. Wastewater treatment plants are not usually well equipped to monitor the levels of micro-pollutants in the wastewater. These remain unchanged during wastewater treatment plant operation and enter into the receiving environment via the discharge of treated water.

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has been widely employed for the treatment of wastewater contaminated with micro-pollutantsand new emerging contaminants.However, low microbial activity of activated sludge and serious membrane fouling still remain big challenges in worldwide application of MBR technology. Nowadays, more and more progresses on the research and development of advanced MBR with new materials and hybrid process are just on the way.
In this paper, an overview on the perspective of a novel electro-assisted membrane bioreactor (EMBR) was discussed asfeasible option of effectively mitigating the membrane fouling and improving the effluent quality from micro-pollutants.