Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) for sewage treatment was operated for 650 days with the decrease of temperature from 25 degrees C to 10 degrees C. At higher temperature > 15 degrees C, COD removal was above 94% while sewage treatment efficiency and relevant CH4 production decreased below 15 degrees C. The effluent COD at 10 degrees C was 134 mg/L at HRT of 16 h. Moreover, low temperature can result in a higher membrane fouling rate due to the microbial self-protection behavior in coping with the temperature decrease by releasing soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The contribution of pore blocking to membrane fouling caused by protein from SMP and EPS increased from 17% to 45% and that of cake layer decreased from 81% to 53% at 25 degrees C and 15 degrees C respectively. The inhibition to hydrolysis and acidification process was responsible to the decrease of sewage treatment at lower temperature. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.