The use of a natural palygorskite clay for the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions for different contact times, pHs of suspension, and amounts and particle sizes of palygorskite clay were investigated. The variations of the pH value of Pb(II) solutions on natural palygorskite in the adsorption process were determined. Batch adsorption kinetic experiments revealed that the adsorption of Pb(II) onto palygorskite clay involved fast and slow processes. It was found that the adsorption mechanisms in the lead/palygorskite system follow pseudo-second-order kinetics with a significant contribution from film diffusion. SEM observations demonstrated that an important interaction at the lead-granule interface occurred during the adsorption process. The adsorption isotherms were described by means of the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and the Langnmir model represents the adsorption process better than the Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pb(II) onto natural palygorskite was 104.28 mg g(-1). (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.