Characterization of the effect of surfactant on biomass adaptation and microbial community in sewage treatment by anaerobic membrane bioreactor

[Display omitted] •Surfactant effect on biomass diversity in AnMBR during sewage treatment was studied.•Bacteria was more sensitive to surfactant than Archaea for both LAS and AE.•Geobacter, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter were proven not efficient in LAS degradation.•AE degradation to VFA by Geobacter and conversion to methane was confirmed.•Different biomass adaption to LAS and AE was observed by heatmap analysis. The impact of surfactant on biomass adaptation and microbial community response in sewage treatment was studied by anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). An increase in abundance and reduction in diversity for Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes but a decrease in distribution for Proteobacteria were observed when surfactant was present in sewage. A significant change at genus level in the microbial diversity and distribution for Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes was confirmed due to the biomass adaptation process. Geobacter, Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter for LAS degradation were proven to be not efficient in this study. In contrast, AE was efficiently degraded by Geobacter and converted into methane.