Melocanna baccifera (Bamboo) is the most abundant and economically important non-timber product in the
State of Mizoram, India. The community of the region is getting benefited by this bamboo enormously. The
notable uses are: tender shoots are edible and delicious preparations are prepared out of bamboo shoots, a
potential source of production construction and composite materials for domestic dwellings and an important
source of raw material for charcoal production, which is required for a variety of industries. This paper
highlights the utility of bamboo charcoal in wastewater treatment. It is known that activated and raw
charcoals from different biomass sources have wide range of applications in water treatment. Therefore,
activated charcoal was prepared from M. baccifera raw charcoal by chemical treatment and used in various
experiments to test its functions for removal of heavy metals. To achieve this, batch mode experiments were
conducted choosing specific parameters such as pH (2.0–7.0), adsorbent dose (0.1–0.5 g), contact time (15–
360 min) and metal ion concentrations (0.03–0.07 g/L). The surface characterization has been carried out
using Autosorb-1 instrument (Quanta chrome), SEM and FTIR. From these studies, it is evident that charcoal
could be used as adsorbents for removal of Ni(II) and Zn(II) from aqueous solution.