With the recent emergence of estrogenic contaminants as reclaimed wastewater quality issue, our study has investigated the removal of bisphenol-A (BPA) using a submerged membrane bioreactor. Experiments were performed at initial BPA concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 15 mg/L. A very low sludge mineralization occurred in the bioreactor (with a VSS/TSS ratio around 0.8-0.9), irrespective of the variation of biomass concentration and a long retention time of solids. The specific oxygen uptake rate values recorded did not reveal any significant change in the microbial respiratory activity in the absence (2.00 mg O-2/g VSS h) and in the presence (1.4 mg O-2/g VSS h) of BPA in the synthetic effluent. The performance of the bioreactor in terms of COD removal remained constant and reached 99% irrespective of the hydraulic retention time imposed (3-6 h), whereas 66-99% of COD removal was recorded while using conventional activated sludge system. The limit of the toxicity (21.6 g BPA/m(3)/d) determined for the bioreactor membrane system was higher than that recorded for the conventional activated sludge (2.5 g BPA/m(3)/d). BPA was effectively removed in the membrane bioreactor (abatement >= 98% was reached) due to adsorption and biodegradation/transformation processes. Residual BPA concentrations recorded in the mixed liquor remained low (0.017-0.004 mg/L), when the raw wastewater contained a concentration of 1.0 mg BPA/L. This indicates that BPA was not accumulated in the membrane bioreactor, but bacteria oxidized it. Likewise, the membrane bioreactor was found to be effective in removing ammonia-nitrogen (>99% of N-NH4 removed), whereas 61% of phosphate (P-PO4) could be simultaneously removed. The membrane bioreactor was a total barrier for total suspended solid and turbidity was effectively removed (residual turbidity was lower than 1.0 NTU). (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.