Activated carbon (AC) was prepared from ash-rich distilled spirit lees via carbonization and successive activation incorporated with different deashing methods. The results show that the alkali treatment of the steam-activated carbon (ATAC) produced the AC with the highest performance in comparison with the NaOH activation and direct alkali treatment of the carbonized carbon (ATCC). The ATAC removed 84.4% of the ash from steam-activated carbon and increased the BET surface area and total pore volume by 92.3% and 109.3%, respectively, resulting in the AC with its ash content of 11 wt %, BET surface area of 620 m(2)/g, and total pore volume of 0.67 cm(3)/g. The article also revealed that it is possible to use the alkaline leaching solution from the ATAC, which is mainly composed of sodium silicate, as the major binder to mold the produced powder AC.