Palladium sorption on glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan was studied in fixed-bed column systems. Sorption performances were controlled mainly by the presence of competitor anions in the solution: The presence of sulfate, chloride, or nitrate (to a lesser extent) significantly decrease sorption properties.,Although the influence of other operating conditions such as particle size, column depth, and flow velocity on sorption breakthrough cannot be completely neglected, palladium sorption is less significantly controlled by these parameters than for the sorption of other metal ions, owing to fast mass transfer and weak intraparticle diffusion control.