<p>Sulfate is a common ion in natural water bodies and in different metallurgical processes. Regulatory agencies have been increasing the constraints in sulfate content limit for discharge. A common practice is the precipitation of sulfate with lime, but the remaining solution still has ca. 1500 mg L^− 1 of sulfate, which is still a high concentration for disposal and reuse. The goal in this work was the investigation of precipitation, ion exchange and reverse osmosis routes with low cost chemicals and operating conditions for sulfate removal. Precipitation to ettringite was not viable, although sulfate content was diluted twice by the addition of chemicals. Ion exchange A400 resin showed good results in equilibrium tests, but low kinetics might be a problem. Reverse osmosis showed the best result, even with low transmembrane pressure, with sulfate removal of up to 94%. However, when reverse osmosis was used after ion exchange, the performance was highly decreased, as the result of an increased difference in osmotic pressure, probably due to the exchange of one sulfate by two chloride ions. The results showed that the presence of other chemicals can impart high constraints in the processing route.</p>