Sepiolite, a highly porous mineral, is becoming widely used as an alternative material in areas where sorptive, catalytic and rheological applications are required. High ion exchange capacity and high surface area and more importantly its relatively cheap price make it an attractive adsorbent. In this study, the adsorption of acid red 57 by natural mesoporous sepiolite has been examined in order to measure the ability of this mineral to remove coloured textile dyes from wastewater. For this purpose, a series of batch adsorption tests of acid red 57 from aqueous sepiolite solutions have been systematically investigated as a function of parameters such as pH, ionic strength and temperature. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 1 h. The removal of acid red 57 decreases with pH from 3 to 9 and temperature from 25 to 55 degreesC, whereas it increases with ionic strength from 0 to 0.5 mol L-1. Adsorption isotherms of acid red on sepiolite were determined and correlated with common isotherm equations such as Langmuir and Freundlich models. It was found that the Langmuir model appears to fit the isotherm data better than the Freundlich model. The physical properties of this adsorbent were consistent with the parameters obtained from the isotherm equations. Approximately, 21.49% weight loss was observed. The surface area value of sepiolite was 342 m(2) g(-1) at 105 degreesC, and it increased to 357 m(2) g(-1) at 200degreesC. Further increase in temperature caused channel plugging and crystal structure deformation, as a result the surface area values showed a decrease with temperature. The data obtained from adsorption isotherms at different temperatures have been used to calculate some thermodynamic quantities such as the Gibbs energy, heat and entropy of adsorption. The thermodynamic data indicate that acid red 57 adsorption onto sepiolite is characterized by physical adsorption. The dimensionless separation factor (R-L) have shown that sepiolite can be used for removal of acid red 57 from aqueous solutions. The sorption capacity of the sepiolite is comparable to the other available adsorbents, and it is quite cheaper. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.