Lead adsorption from aqueous solutions was studied with the aim of detoxifying industrial effluents before their safe disposal onto land or into river waters. Sea nodule residue (SNR), a waste material containing oxides and oxyhydroxides of manganese, iron, silicon, etc., was used as an effective adsorbent for lead in this study. The effect of various parameters such as contact time, initial lead concentration, pulp density, particle size of the adsorbent, pH, and temperature was studied to optimize the conditions for maximum adsorption. Adsorption followed first-order kinetics and 99% of lead adsorption was achieved at a solid:liquid ratio of 1:330, in the pH range 5.5-6.0 at a particle size of -150 mum in 8 h for solution containing 200 ppm lead. The adsorption capacity was found to be 99.0 mg of lead per gram of SNR and the adsorption isotherms followed the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. The mechanism of adsorption of lead onto the sea nodule residue was also investigated. It was possible to reduce the lead level from 25-200 ppm to acceptable levels (0.1 ppm) by adsorption over this solid waste. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.