Activated carbon was prepared from rice straw by carbonization and KOH activation, and was used as an adsorbent for the removal of a kind of pesticide, carbofuran (2,3-dihydro-2,2-dimethylbenzofuran-7-yl methylcarbamate) from aqueous solution. The effects of the initial carbofuran concentration, contact time, temperature and pH, on its adsorption capacity and kinetics were studied using a batch method. The surface area and average pore diameter of the activated carbon were 1304.8 m2/g and 2.39 nm, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of the activated carbon (296.52 mg/g) for carbofuran was found to occur at 90 min, 30 °C and 200 mg/L initial carbofuran concentration with an adsorbent loading of 100 mg/L. Equilibrium adsorption isotherms were fitted better by the Langmuir model than the Freundlich and Temkin models. The adsorption follows a pseudo-second-order kinetics model.
