Based on swelling and dissolution mechanism, a model describing first-order parallel reversible process was developed to predict the fouling resistance of 0.1 mu m polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane fouled with sodium alginate (SA) during water rinsing. The results showed that there were good agreements between model predictions and experimental values (R-2 > 0.9). Especially in the situation when the impact of water rinsing condition on model parameter was considered. Moreover, the applicability of the proposed model was validated by a series of rinsing experiments with 0.1 mu m polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane or active sludge suspension. In addition, feed concentration had a great role in the fouling process while temperature impact on the cleaning process was also very appreciable. And the reversibility of SA fouling was well explained by the electrostatic and hydrophilic repulsions between PAN membrane and SA. (C) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.