Conventional methods of tetrapropyl ammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) production via electrolysis, reaction of tetrapropyl ammonium halide with silver oxide, and ion-exchange suffer from high production costs, low quality, and environmental pollution. In this work, continuous bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) is employed for the preparation of TPAOH from its halide as a sustainable alternative process. Novel ion-exchange membranes were developed for lab and pilot scale experiments, which indicate an acceptable current efficiency and energy consumption. The results indicate that a cell configuration with four compartments yielded the best results when the salt concentration was 0.3 mol L-1 and the current density was 200 A m(-2). The highest conversion in electrodialysis was 91.6%, with a high purity of trace alkali metal ions and low Br- content (176 ppm) at a TPAOH concentration of 25%. The energy consumption is 1.897 kW h kg(-1). Continuous pilot experiments demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing TPAOH by direct splitting its halide for industrial application. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.