A novel system containing a microbial electrochemical system (MES) for electricity generation and sulfate conversion, a novel boost circuit (NBC) for in situ utilization of the electrical energy and an electrochemical deposition cell (ECD) to recover sulfur in water is designed and established. This combined system has a higher energy utilization efficiency of 63.6% than that of conventional sulfate reduction reactors with an elemental sulfur recovery efficiency up to 46.5 +/- 1.5% without net energy input. This system offers a promising, and cost-effective approach for sulfate wastewater treatment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.