The influence of the composition of the anode on the anodic dissolution of iron based alloys in 10 M NaOH to give ferrate has been studied. It is shown that the current efficiency for ferrate formation increases significantly with the carbon content of the alloy. A silver steel with a carbon content of 0.90% initially gave a current efficiency greater than 70%, dropping to similar to 30% after an hour, in a cell with flat plate electrodes and using a current density of 1 mA cm(-2). In comparison, in the same conditions, an alloy with a carbon content of 0.08% showed a current efficiency dropping from 12 to 8%.