Abstract: Recent advances in coke plant wastewater treatment around the world are systematically introduced. Considering the shortcomings of traditional approaches, new methods and technologies have been proposed to treat coke plant wastewater. Electro-absorption technology can greatly enhance the treatment applicability and capability of the existing equipment. In addition, electro-absorption technology is more suitable for wastewater treatment of coke plants in China. The electro-absorption technology was used for advanced purification of coke plant wastewater from Shanjiao in a pilot-scale study. Experimental results showed that under the conditions of influent average conductivity 3680 μS/cm, electrode voltage 1.2 V, flow rate 120 L/h, effluent average conductivity 1530 μS/cm and desalinization rate 57.8%, COD_Cr was reduced to 29.4 mg/L from 74.8 mg/L, with average desalinization rate of 60.7%. The results indicate that electro-absorption technology was well suited for removal of sulfate, chloride and ammonia. The effluent water can be directly used to circulate water. The mechanism of electro-absorption for removal of organic matter was mainly physical absorption, using the charged plate to enrich instead of degrade the organics. The desalination effect was best when the optimum voltage of electro-sorb equipment was 1.2 V and the optimum flow rate was 120 L/h.