Three biomass, birch wood Betula sp., marine brown alga Fucus vesiculosus, and terrestrial moss Pleurozium schreberi, have been compared as raw materials for preparation of biosorbents for removal of copper ions from diluted water solutions. Small sample doses (0.5 g/100 ml) of the biosorbents prepared from alga and moss enabled more than 90% removal of Cu(II) ions from diluted water solutions (5-20 mg/l). The sample from sawdust was less effective. A pseudo-second-order rate model properly described the experimental kinetic data for the biosorbents. The maximum sorption capacities (X,) determined from the experimental equilibrium isotherms by applying the Langmuir model showed that the alga had the best copper-binding ability (X-m = 23.4 mg/g), followed by the moss (X-m = 11.1 mg/g), and the sawdust (X-m = 4.9 mg/g). No visible damages or performance losses were detected for the alga and moss after five sorption-desorption cycles using diluted HCl as eluent. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.