This study focused on the effect of worm reactor on the fouling behaviors of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) in the MBR coupled with Static Sequencing Batch Worm Reactor (SSBWR-MBR). The filtration tests showed that the C-EPS (EPS in Control-MBR) and S-EPS (EPS in SSBWR-MBR) resulted in 76% and 67% of flux decrement, respectively. On both fouling layers, the preferential accumulation was protein, but the adsorption efficiency for protein in C-EPS was 20% higher than that in S-EPS. In comparison with the membrane fouled by C-EPS, the bio-volume of protein on the membrane fouled by S-EPS reduced 33%, and the protein porosity increased 20%. Meanwhile, the S-EPS approaching the membrane had to overcome x 2.4 stronger repulsive interaction energy than C-EPS, and the membrane fouled by S-EPS exhibited relatively smoother compared to that fouled by C-EPS. As a result, the fouling potential of S-EPS was lower than that of C-EPS. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.