An advanced treatment system was developed using a three-step integrated process including physiochemical treatment, activated sludge (AS) based biodegradation and membrane/adsorption for treatment of sour whey within chemical oxygen demand (COD) range of 2700-14000 mg/L Coagulation process as the physicochemical pre-treatment, could remove only 30% of organic load, while the COD was reduced to 540-6700 mg/L after AS process. The most important part of the advanced treatment system was application of a novel hybrid membrane/adsorption process as the final stage.ln membrane/adsorption configuration, the nanostructure ultrafiltration membrane was modified by pre-coating of powdered activated carbon (PAC) onto its surface via pressure deposition technique in order to improve its COD removal efficiency as well as fouling resistance. The best result was obtained at PAC dosage of 30 g/m(2) which could remove more than 90% COD at the moderate load of COD (about 2300 mg/L). Besides, the initial wastewater flux was about 127 L/m(2) h at 3 bar indicated the high resistance of the PAC-coated membrane against fouling by organic load. The COD of the treated effluent reached to the 130 mg/L using the integrated process which makes wastewater disposable to the environment. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.