The individual and simultaneous effects of acid and ultrasonic pretreatment on the disintegration of municipal waste activated sludge (WAS) were investigated based on chemical properties of WAS. In the combination of acid and ultrasonic pretreatment methods (ultrasonic-acid pretreatment), lowering pH accelerated and enhanced the disintegration of waste biological sludge. Therefore, the same disintegration efficiency (obtained by ultrasonic pretreatment alone) was achieved by the combined pretreatment in shorter sonication times. Optimum pretreatment conditions were ultrasonic power density of 1.0 W/mL and pretreatment time of 10 min for ultrasonic pretreatment alone, and ultrasonic power density of 1.0 W/mL, pretreatment time of 10 min and initial sludge pH of 2.0 for the combined pretreatment. Sludge disintegration degrees were about 30% and 40% under these optimized conditions, respectively. Optimum sludge concentration was found to be 1.0% total solid (TS) content for the combined pretreatment. As a result, ultrasonic-acid pretreatment has been determined as a new and effective combined sludge pretreatment method to improve the sludge disintegration. (C) 2014 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.