Pulse electro-coagulation (PE) technology was applied to the treatment of refractory berberine hydrochloride (BH) wastewater. It showed that with Fe electrode the removal efficiencies of pollutants were significantly higher than that with Al electrode. By using Fe electrode and simulated wastewater, the effects of pulse duty cycle, current density, pulse frequency, electrode distance and electrolysis time on the removal efficiencies of BH and COD were investigated. Under the optimal conditions of reaction time of 3.5 h, pulse duty cycle of 0.3, pulse frequency of 1.0 kHz, current density of 19.44 mA/cm(2), and electrode distance of 2.0 cm, the removal efficiencies of BH and COD reached 72.8% and 69.6%, respectively. The raw BH wastewater was then treated with PE process, and 90.1% BH and 62.6% COD could be removed. Finally, the energy costs of PE and traditional electro-coagulation (EC) were compared and it showed that PE saved 90% energy than EC. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.