Organic microcontaminants (OMCs) such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and steroid hormones have global concerns due to their potential harmful effects on aquatic ecosystem and human health. This necessitates the effective removal of these contaminants from wastewater before its discharge into the environment. Ineffective removal of OMCs through conventional treatment processes such as activated sludge treatment and membrane bioreactors (MBRs) prompted the development of high retention membrane bioreactors (HRMBRs) which combine HRMs such as nanofiltration, forward osmosis or membrane distillation with an activated sludge process. The studies that are available on HRMBRs report better removal of up to 99% for OMCs and high quality effluent as compared to conventional activated sludge treatment and MBRs. This review summarises recent progress in the removal of OMCs from wastewater using HRMBRs. The removal mechanisms of OMCs by HRMs and HRMBRs are delineated. Future prospects of HRMBRs for enhancing OMCs removal from wastewater are also proposed. The mechanisms that are of primary concern for OMCs removal by HRMBR are membrane retention, sorption and biodegradation. HRMBRs can reclaim water with high OMCs removal and small foot print. HRMBRs not only achieve high rejection and prolong the retention time for biodegradation but also alleviate the greenhouse gas emission problem as these reactors are comparatively less energy intensive owing to natural osmotic phenomena.

药物、农药和类固醇激素等有机微污染物（OMC）因其对水生生态系统和人类健康的潜在有害影响而受到全球关注。这就需要在废水排放到环境中之前有效地去除废水中的这些污染物。通过活性污泥处理和膜生物反应器 (MBR) 等传统处理工艺无法有效去除 OMC，这促使人们开发了高保留膜生物反应器 (HRMBR)，该反应器将纳滤、正向渗透或膜蒸馏等 HRM 与活性污泥工艺相结合。 HRMBR 的研究表明，与传统的活性污泥处理和 MBR 相比，OMC 的去除率高达 99%，并且出水质量较高。本综述总结了使用 HRMBR 从废水中去除 OMC 的最新进展。描述了 HRM 和 HRMBR 去除 OMC 的机制。还提出了 HRMBR 增强废水中 OMC 去除率的未来前景。 HRMBR 去除 OMC 的主要机制是膜保留、吸附和生物降解。 HRMBR 可以回收水，具有较高的 OMC 去除率和较小的占地面积。 HRMBR 不仅实现了高截留率并延长了生物降解的保留时间，而且还缓解了温室气体排放问题，因为这些反应器由于自然渗透现象而能耗相对较低。