The de-oiled allspice husk in Mexico has been converted into a cheap adsorbent that we aim to investigate for its ability to remove Pb2+ from aqueous solution after chemically modifying this material through a xanthate reaction. Batch tests were conducted to find out optimum pH and equilibrium isotherm. The adsorption process can attain equilibrium within 120 min and kinetics was found to be best-fit pseudo second-order equation at 25 degrees C, the best lead removal was 98% at pH 4, at 250 rpm. The maximum adsorption capacity of de-oiled allspice husk xanthate was found for a continuous process, removed 99.8%, the experimental results were appropriately fitted by the Thomas model, with 2.5 g of de-oiled allspice husk xanthate. The material was characterised using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), surface area measurement (BET) and Scanning Electron Microscope-Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.