Activated carbon was produced from prosopis (Prosopis juliflora), a wild thorny plant grown in wastelands, by chemical activation using zinc chloride. The process variables: activation temperature, level of zinc chloride required and activation duration of 600 degrees C, 50% and 30 min, respectively, yielded 56.9% of activated carbon. The methylene blue adsorbed and zinc chloride recovery were 23 ml and 52.9%, respectively for the activated carbon produced from prosopis at the optimum levels of process variables. The characteristics of the activated carbon produced from prosopis indicated its suitability in the oil, food and pharmaceutical industries.