The objective of this work was to study the recovery of lead ion using a fluidized bed electrode to simulate an industrial effluent. The reactor's performance was evaluated based on dimensionless variables: voidage of the bed (epsilon), current density (i)/limiting currents density (I-lim), transport number of lead (t(Pb)) and transport number of support electrolyte NO, and their influence on current efficiency (EC) and power consumption (CE). Due to the almost total absence of mathematical models that fit the system and also due to the complexity of such models, the choice fell upon a statistical technique, the central composite design (CCD), to obtain the desired responses as empirical functions. Response surfaces were then plotted to identify the behavior of current efficiency and power consumption when the values of variables dimensionless were changed. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.