According to the intrinsic kinetics of electro-oxidation, a novel three-stage reaction theory ((SRT)-S-3) involved charge transfer controlled (CTC), mixed-phase controlled (MPC) and mass transport controlled (MTC) regimes is presented to describe the oxidation of organic pollutants by using a packed-bed electrode reactor (PBER). The proposed (SRT)-S-3 could be universally used for overall oxidation due to the introduction of a parameter, current utilization ratio of gamma (similar to 1.0) related to anode materials. The existence of MPC regime is due to the difference of the applied current density between metallic anode and bipolar activated carbon (AC) particulate anode caused by the difference of the electrode area of the two kinds of anodes. The proposed theory was employed for prediction of chemical oxygen demand (COD) during treatment of synthetic phenolic wastewater, thiophene-2,5-dicarboxylic acid manufacturing wastewater and pyridine wastewater by using IrO2 doped tantalum oxide (IrO2-Ta2O5/Ti) anode. The regression analysis and F-test results illustrate the (SRT)-S-3 satisfactorily matches the experimental data obtained at different operation conditions such as current density, initial COD values and flow rate. These results confirm the proposed (SRT)-S-3 could effectively predict the change of concentration of organic pollutants during electro-oxidation by using a PBER. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.