a b s t r a c t Considering characteristics of breaking down H 2 O 2 into water and molecular oxygen by catalase in waste activated sludge (WAS), the effect of H 2 O 2 dosing strategy on sludge pretreatment by the advanced oxidation process (AOP) of microwave-H 2 O 2 was investigated by batch experiments for optimizing H 2 O 2 dosage. Results showed that the catalase in sludge was active at the low temperature range between 15• C and 45• C, and gradually lost activity from 60• C to 80• C. Therefore, the H 2 O 2 was dosed at 80• C, to which the waste activated sludge was first heated by the microwave (MW), and then the sludge dosed with H 2 O 2 was continuously heated till 100• C by the microwave. Results at different H 2 O 2 dosages showed that the higher the H 2 O 2 dosing ratio was, the more the SCOD and total organic carbon (TOC) were released into the supernatant, and the optimum range of H 2 O 2 /TCOD ratio should be between 0.1 and 1.0. The percentages of consumed H 2 O 2 in the AOP of microwave and H 2 O 2 treating the WAS were 25.38%, 22.53%, 14.82%, 13.61% and 19.63% at different H 2 O 2 /TCOD dosing ratios of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, respectively. Along with the increasing H 2 O 2 /TCOD ratio, the contents of TCOD on particles, soluble substances and mineralization increased and the TCOD distribution on solids decreased.