Hazardous dye removal and recovery from wastewater requires efficient capturing material. We report a phase change material (PCM) with phase change temperature of 16 degrees C giving up to 98% removal of crystal violet in few minutes. The PCM was found to collect 54 times of its weight soluble dye. The dye adsorption kinetics obeys a second order pseudo rate. Upon cooling the PCM to below 16 degrees C it gels and enabled solid removal of the captured dye. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.