The objective of this work was to convert corncobs to activated carbon by low temperature chemical treatment for removing copper from wastewater. The parameters for developing a new adsorbent i.e. sorption capacity, selectivity, regenerability, suspension test, and kinetics were investigated. All studies were performed in batch experiments. Removal of copper from aqueous solutions varied with the amount of adsorbent, metal ion concentration, agitation time, solution pH and the species of copper present. It was found that the effect of temperature was very small. The Langmuir model was found to best fit the equilibrium isotherm data. Kinetics of copper removal at two different temperatures obeyed Lagergren pseudo-first-order equation. Effect of water hardness, other cations (Ph2+ and Zn2+) on copper removal was also studied. Experiments with anionic and cationic complexes of copper showed that anionic copper species are not removed at all by the prepared material. To observe the nature of surface and pore structure scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of modified corncobs were used. To study the interaction forces between the adsorbent and the metal ion functional group analysis with infrared spectroscopy and proximate analysis were carried out. In addition, recovery of the metals ion and regeneration of spent adsorbent was possible by acidified hydrogen peroxide. Since the uptake capacity of the prepared adsorbent is 26 mg Cu/g for copper, it can be a potential adsorbent for removing and recovering other heavy metal ions from contaminated wastewaters. The sorption capacity of the treated corncobs for copper was better than the reported capacity of other activated carbons prepared from agricultural sources. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.