Parameters, such as pH, temperature, initial boron concentration, adsorbent dosage, and ionic strength, affecting boron adsorption onto chitosan beads were examined in this study. The following values were obtained as the optimum conditions in our studied ranges: pH 8.0, temperature = 308 K, amount of chitosan beads = 0.15 g, initial boron concentration = 4 mg L(-1), and ionic strength = 0.1 M NaCl]. The adsorption kinetics were also examined in terms of three kinetic models: the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intraparticle diffusion models. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model showed very good agreement with the experimental data. Intraparticle plots seemed to have two steps and indicated multilinearity. Equilibrium data were evaluated with nonlinear and linear forms of the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The experimental data conformed to the Freundlich equation on the basis of the formation of multilayer adsorption. To characterize the synthesized chitosan beads, we used Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses. As shown by FTIR analysis, the boron species may have interacted with the NH(2) groups on chitosan. Microparticles of about 5 mu m appeared in the SEM micrographs of the chitosan beads. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 122: 657-665, 2011