The production of acrylic acid results in a toxic wastewater containing acrylic acid, formaldehyde, acetic acid and maleic acid. Acrylic acid wastewater is a product of the petrochemical industry. Treating this wastewater can be challenging. Under aerated conditions the volatile compounds are released into the atmosphere, therefore the wastewater is currently incinerated. This study aims to treat this toxic wastewater using an innovative anaerobic membrane bioreactor. The study shows the wastewater is treatable at organic loading rates up to 5 kg·COD/m 3·d. This is a high strength wastewater with an average influent COD of 85 g/L. The effluent COD was found to be below 600 mg/L. The results obtained demonstrate that 99% of COD was removed. The effluent contained no detectable acrylic acid, and formaldehyde was found typically below 1.5 mg/L. Trans-membrane pressure (TMP) is an important operating parameter when using submerged membrane bioreactors. TMP indicates fouling of the membrane, resulting in reduced flux. During four months of continuous operation at a flux of 0.2 m 3/m 2·d the TMP was found to be below 2 kPa. This indicates that the membrane bioreactor is capable of treating this wastewater at loadings studied without significant membrane fouling. The research is continuing and higher organic loading rates (7 and 8.5 kg·COD/m 3·d) are being studied. These results have concluded that the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can treat wastewater from the production of acrylic acid up to a loading of 5 kg·COD/m 3·d, with COD removal of 99%.