This work describes the preparation of a new chelating material derived from wood sawdust, Manilkara sp., and not only the use of a new support, but also a chemically modified sugarcane bagasse synthesized in our previous work to remove Zn2+ from aqueous solutions and electroplating wastewater. The first part describes the chemical modification of wood sawdust and sugarcane bagasse using ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride (EDTAD) as modifying agent in order to introduce carboxylic acid and amine functional groups into these materials. The obtained materials such as the modified sugarcane bagasse, EB, and modified wood sawdust, ES were then characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and CHN. The second part evaluates the adsorption capacity of Zn2+ by EB and ES from aqueous single metal solutions and real electroplating wastewater, which concentration was determined through direct titration with EDTA and inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES). Adsorption isotherms were developed using Langmuir model. Zn2+ adsorption capacities were found to be 80 mg/g for ES and 105 mg/g for EB whereas for the industrial wastewater these values were found to be 47 mg/g for ES and 45 mg/g for EB. Zn2+ adsorption in the wastewater was found to be lower than in Zn2+ spiked solution due to the competition between other cations and/or interference of other ions, mainly Ca2+ and Cl- that were present in the wastewater. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.