Worm predation is one of the promising techniques for sludge reduction with the advantage of high efficiency and eco-friendliness. In order to achieve high quality effluent and low sludge production simultaneously, worm reactor (WR) with an efficient wastewater treatment process (anaerobic-anoxic-oxic membrane bioreactor (A²O-MBR)) was coupled with an auxiliary phosphorus removal reactor (PRR) to establish an A²O-MBR-WR-PRR combined system. In A²O-MBR-WR-PRR, high quality effluent with 27.7 ± 9.3 mg/L COD, 13.0 ± 1.8 mg/L TN and 0.4 ± 0.2 mg/L TP was obtained, and the sludge yield was reduced by 49.8% compared with the conventional A²O-MBR. Besides, the roles of WR on the A²O-MBR-WR-PRR system were deeply investigated. In comparison with conventional A²O-MBR, the removal capacities of TN and TP in the wastewater treatment process were increased by 11.6% and 100.8% respectively. Further analysis suggested that in A²O-MBR sludge activities were improved and the functional bacteria were enriched due to the recirculation of non-consumed sludge from WR. Moreover, analysis of sludge reduction mechanisms revealed that WR led to the highest sludge reduction efficiency (41.7%) in the A²O-MBR-WR-PRR combined system. Meanwhile, energy uncoupling (2.3%), microbial community changes and lysis-cryptic growth (5.8%) were identified in A²O-MBR, which contributed to further sludge reduction. This study provided an efficient approach for practical application of worm predation for sludge reduction and wastewater treatment.

蠕虫捕食是减少污泥的有前途的技术之一，它具有高效和生态友好的优势。为了同时获得高质量的废水和低污泥，将具有高效废水处理工艺的蜗杆反应器（WR）（厌氧-缺氧-氧化膜生物反应器（A ² O-MBR））与辅助除磷反应器（PRR）结合使用），以建立一个A ² O-MBR-WR-PRR组合系统。在A ² O-MBR-WR-PRR中，获得了27.7±9.3 mg / L的COD，13.0±1.8 mg / L的TN和0.4±0.2 mg / L的TP的高质量废水，污泥产率降低了49.8％。与传统的A ² O-MBR相比。此外，WR在A ²上的作用对O-MBR-WR-PRR系统进行了深入研究。与传统的A ² O-MBR相比，废水处理过程中TN和TP的去除能力分别提高了11.6％和100.8％。进一步的分析表明，由于WR中未消耗的污泥的再循环，A ² O-MBR污泥的活性得到改善，功能细菌得以富集。此外，对污泥减少机理的分析表明，在A ² O-MBR-WR-PRR组合系统中，WR导致最高的污泥减少效率（41.7％）。同时，在A ²中鉴定出能量解偶联（2.3％），微生物群落变化和裂解隐性生长（5.8％）。O-MBR，有助于进一步减少污泥。该研究为蠕虫捕食减少污泥和废水处理提供了一种有效的方法。