A new sorbent (rice bran) for removing Cu2+ from aqueous solution has been investigated. The experimental results were fitted to the Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Redlich-Peterson isotherms to obtain the characteristic parameters of each model. Langmuir, Temkin and Redlich-Peterson isotherms were found to represent the measured sorption data. The maximum sorption capacity of Cu2+ on the rice bran was 33.58 mg/g according to the evaluation of using the Langmuir equation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.