Integrated treatment of reverse osmosis brines coupling electrocoagulation with advanced oxidation processes

•Application of electrocoagulation in RO brines is advantageous due to high conductivity of brines.•Electrocoagulation effectively removed phosphate, alkalinity and DOM with either Fe or Al anode.•DOM removal resulted more effective with Al than Fe anode due to partial oxidation of iron at pH 5.5.•Electrocoagulation coupled with AOP oxidized micropollutants in brines to a high extent.