This study applied a laboratory-scaled, staged anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactor (SAF-MBR) added with granular activated carbon (GAC) as fluidized media to treat a synthetic wastewater containing 0.1 mg/L of three different pharmaceutical micropollutants. Diclofenac, ibuprofen, and sulfamethoxazole were selected as target micropollutants to investigate their removal efficiency during SAF-MBR operation. More than 96% of overall COD removal efficiency was achieved at 8.7 h of total HRT with 288 mg/L of bulk VSS concentration. Transmembrane pressure (TMP) from membrane remained less than 0.3 bar during operational period. After the SAF-MBR was introduced with the micropollutants at 5 Lm(-2) h(-1) of permeate flux, they were removed completely within 3 days of operation. Our batch experiments supported that the removal of micropollutants in reactor bulk was immensely pronounced by adsorption to GACs, sorption and biodegradation due to the biofilm formed on GACs fluidized in SAF-MBR system. (C) 2019 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.