A theoretical model has been proposed to predict the electrochemical performances of a bipolar electrode system (BEs) under continuous flow mode. The experimental results obtained during thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid wastewater treatment show lower applied current density allows higher current yield and less power consumption. Therefore, a multi-current controlled operation (MCO) with current density of each step lower than the mass transfer limitation could result in optimizing the cell capital investment and power cost. The overall cost of the electrochemical treatment at optimized condition can drop about 81% in comparison with those of 500 A m(-2) when the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand is 91.2%, verifying the significant advantages of the MCO determined by the proposed kinetics. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.