Response surface methodology was used to study the cumulative effect of the various parameters namely, initial copper ion concentration, pH, temperature, biomass loading and to optimize the process conditions for the maximum removal of copper. For obtaining the mutual interaction between the variables and optimizing these variables, a 2(4) full factorial central composite design using response surface methodology was employed. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the quadratic model demonstrates that the model was highly significant. The model was statistically tested and verified by experimentation. A maximum copper removal of 98% was obtained using the biosorption kinetics of copper under optimum conditions. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.