Chitosan coated perlite beads were prepared by drop-wise addition of slurry, made of chitosan dissolved in oxalic acid and perlite, to an alkaline bath (0.7 M NaOH). The beads that contained 32% chitosan enhanced the accessibility of OH and amine groups present in chitosan for adsorption of copper ions. The experiments using Cu(II) ions were carried out in the concentration range of 50-4100 mg/L (0.78-64.1 mmol/L). Adsorption capacity for Cu(II) was pH dependent and a maximum uptake of 104 mg/g of beads (325 mg/g of chitosan) was obtained at pH 4.5 when its equilibrium concentration in the solution was 812.5 mg/L at 298 K. The XPS and TEM data suggested that copper was mainly adsorbed as Cu(II) and was attached to amine groups. The adsorption data could be fitted to one-site Langmuir adsorption model. Anions in the solution had minimal effect on Cu(II) adsorption by chitosan coated perlite beads. EDTA was used effectively for the regeneration of the bed. The diffusion coefficient of Cu(II) onto chitosan coated beads was calculated from the breakthrough curve and was found to be 2.02 x 10(-8) cm(2)/s.