Zinc (Zn2+) from aqueous solutions was removed via synthesized hydrocalumite, and Visual MINTEQ was applied to verify the removal process in this paper. The results showed that the maximum removal capacity of Zn2+ was 7.34, 6.72 and 7.57 mmol L-1 with SO42-, NO3- and Cl-, respectively. Under an initial Zn2+ concentration of 10.2 mmol L-1 in ZnSO4 solution, the final Ca2+ concentration was equal to 5.4 mmol L-1, and the corresponding primary precipitation was ZnAl-SO4-LDHs. However, in ZnCl2 or Zn(NO3)(2) solutions, released Al(OH)(4)(-) was mainly recrystallized with Zn2+ to form ZnAl-CI-LDHs. The simulated results were consistent with the experimental ones, which revealed that Zn2+ removal was via dissolution and selective precipitation. Therefore, this research proved that hydrocalumite was an efficient Zn2+ sorbent and Visual MINTEQ could offer a novel way to validate the removal process. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.