In the present work, a preliminary study on the potential of hard almond peels for the removal of zinc ions from aqueous synthetic solutions has been investigated. Kinetic data and equilibrium sorption isotherm were measured in batch conditions. For an initial metal concentration of 100 mg/L tested here, the quantity of zinc sorbed was contact time dependent: it increased with an increase of this parameter. The necessary time to reach the sorption equilibrium was about 6 h and an increase of removal time to 24 h did not show notable effects. At equilibrium, about 24 % of initial zinc solution was removed by hard almond peels (q e = 23.86 mg/g) under these experimental conditions. Two simplified kinetic models including a first-order rate equation and a pseudo second-order rate equation were selected to describe the metal sorption kinetics. The process followed a pseudo second – order rate kinetics. Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to describe sorption equilibrium data at natural pH of solution. Results indicated that the Langmuir model gave a better fit to the experimental data than the Freundlich model. Maximum zinc uptake obtained was q m = 56 mg/g under the investigated experimental conditions.