This study investigates the sludge and effluent characteristics of a new process of coupling an aerobic granular sludge bioreactor with a membrane filtration. The effluent and mixed liquor of sequencing batch airlift reactor (SBAR) were analyzed at various aeration shear stresses when fed with high nitrate containing wastewater. The presence of nitrate nitrogen and aerobic/anoxic condition was able to improve the sludge characteristics in terms of biomass retention, density and settling ability in SBAR MLSS and SVI could reach 9 g/L and 44 mL/g respectively at the aeration rate of 0.6 cm/s. The presence of nitrate and the denitrification process could minimize the fouling potential. The membrane fouling can be better correlated to SBAR sludge characteristics than biomass concentration. The high aeration rate in the reactor increased the fouling resistance due to production of large MW soluble microbial products (30-50 kDa). The soluble fraction of SBAR effluent contained mainly hydrophilic substances when nitrate is present in the wastewater. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.