Aluminium removal has been investigated in synthetic and real wastewaters provided by an aluminium surface treatment plant. Marine algae, obtained as beach cast seaweed (a refuse substance) were used as adsorption material. The influence of pH, metal concentration and time for aluminium elimination was studied by use of synthetic solutions. The optimum pH value was 4.0, which provided a maximum adsorption capacity of 22.5 mg g(-1). The adsorption percentage surpassed 80% in less than 30 min of contact time. Real solutions from the industrial unit were fully characterized and tested in two different fixed-bed columns. One column was filled with 27.5 g of dried beach cast seaweed. Three cycles of adsorption and two of desorption were carried out. The first cycle (12 mg g(-1) maximum sorption capacity) was enough to reach the maximum adsorption capacity at 15 mL min(-1) flow rate. The second column was packed with 1100 g of seaweed and its behaviour was compared to another column filled with activated charcoal, following both the same experimental procedure. Maximum sorption capacity was 14 mg g(-1) for seaweed, whereas the activated charcoal only reached 1.6 mg g(-1) (flow rate of 250 mL min(-1)). (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.