The effective removal of heavy metals from aqueous wastes is among the most important issues for many industrialized countries. The traditional treatment methods used to remove heavy metals from wastewaters have certain disadvantages such as incomplete metal removal, high reagent and energy requirements, generation of toxic sludge or other waste products that require disposal. The search for alternative and innovate treatment techniques has focused attention on the use of biological materials for metal removal and recovery technologies. Biosorption has gained important credibility during recent years because of its good performance and low cost. In the present study, the biosorption capacity of powder from coconut shell was studied for cadmium. The adsorption capacity of biomass was investigated by batch experiments. The influence of metal ion concentration and pH were evaluated and the results were fitted using adsorption isotherm models. The kinetic of cadmium biosorption was also investigated. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.