Chromium (Cr) is a potentially toxic metal considered 17^th in the toxicity profile of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Thus, this study focused on the performance of natural bituminous coal (NBC) from Ethiopia in the uptake capacity of Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions. Batch and column adsorption experiments were performed in order to examine the removal process under various parameters. The parameters were optimized using the one-factor-at-a-time method. Parameters considered at the batch scale include contact time, pH, initial concentration, adsorbent dose, and temperature. These parameters (e.g., pH(2-9), contact time (30-180 min.), dose of the adsorbent (0.25-2 g), initial Cr (VI) concentration (3-150 mg/L), and temperature (20-45 °C), were optimized in triplicate. Similarly, at the column stage, parameters including column height, flow rate, dose, and initial concentration were considered. The adsorbent coal samples were collected from five sites in Delbi, Ethiopia, and composite samples were used for the adsorptive analysis. The adsorbent was then characterized using FTIR and XRF. The results of the study suggested that Cr (VI) ion uptake was pH-dependent and reached its optimum potential at pH 3.0 in the batch process. The capacity of NBC at equilibrium was estimated to be 11.54 mg/g from the Freundlich isotherm model. The isotherm study revealed that Freundlich isotherms explained the adsorption process. It was determined that removal of Cr (VI) was well fitted by second-order reaction kinetics over pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics. The thermodynamics of the adsorption of Cr (VI) were found to be negative, indicating an exothermic adsorption process. The results of the column experiments indicated that NBC could be suitable for treating water contaminated with low concentrations of Cr (VI) at a slow flow rate of 1.25 mL/min. Therefore, the batch and column studies showed that NBC is a favorable adsorbent for the removal of Cr (VI) from an aqueous solution.