The effect of pH and temperature (θ) on the overall performance indicators (i.e., solute recovery, ρ, and Faraday, η, efficiencies; specific energy consumption, ϵ, solute, JS, and water, JW, fluxes) of batch electrodialytic recovery of citric acid from model solutions was assessed at different values of feed solute concentration (cSf) and electric current density (j). Regardless of the initial feed concentration used, ρ and JS were found to be independent of θ; η and JW exhibited a positive trend with respect to θ, while ϵ a negative one. At the maximum temperature tested (33°C), as the pH of the feed solution was varied from 3 to 7, ρ increased from 0.90 ± 0.08 to 0.97 ± 0.02, η grew from 0.09 ± 0.02 to 0.50 ± 0.01, JS practically doubled, ϵ reduced about 8 times, but JW increased from 3 to 4 times. So, the optimal conditions for this technique are to be determined by balancing the savings in the investment and maintenance costs against the energy costs. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 59:344–350, 1998.