The performance of electrocoagulation using iron electrodes for the treatment of aqueous solutions containing chromium hexavalent ions using fixed bed electrochemical batch reactor was studied. A new anode design consisting of hex nuts was connected together with a thin rode of iron. The helical shape in the nuts increases the anode surface area allowing high chromium removal rate within very short coagulation time. The effect of different parameters affecting the electrocoagulation process, such as initial hexavalent chromium concentration, applied current, electrolyte type [sodium chloride and sodium sulfate] concentration and initial pH of the solution was investigated. The optimum conditions for the EC process by using the present cell based on minimum initial hexavalent chromium concentration, energy consumption and operating cost were 100 mg of Cr(VI)/l, 0.55 A, 1.5 g of sodium chloride/land pH of 1. ª 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).