Biochar was obtained from Eucalyptus pruning residues with a non-conventional device named Kon-Tiki kiln. The average heat of combustion of the biochar, 27.3 MJ kg-1 , was higher than that of Eucalyptus wood, 17.8 MJ kg-1. Activation with CO 2 was performed by varying the activation time from 0 to 60 minutes. The activated carbons (ACs) and the carbon precursor have been characterised and tested for paracetamol removal in the liquid phase, studied in both kinetic and equilibrium aspects. ACs presented an increase in BET area (up to 845 m 2 /g), total pore volume and microporosity with the activation time. The pseudo-second order model was the one that best fitted the experimental data. Elimination of paracetamol was much faster when using ACs, 5h, than when using the biochar, 3 days. However, pollutant removal was greater than 95% for all materials, which is a promising result for lowcost biochars in a difficult economic context. All the adsorption equilibrium experiments exhibited multilayer behaviour, showing values up to 98 mg g-1 for the maximum monolayeradsorption capacity.

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Emerging pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, have been detected in surface and groundwaters. The adsorption of paracetamol and ibuprofen, two widespread drugs, has been studied in aqueous medium, using a ceramic-derived carbon (CeDC) and a commercial activated carbon (CoAC). CeDC yielded a BET surface area of 895 m 2 g −1 , a bimodal pore size distribution (13.2 and 35 nm) and a total pore volume of 1.99 cm 3 g −1 . CoAC had an approximate surface area of 1000 m 2 g −1 , a homogeneous pore size distribution and a total pore volume of 0.42 cm 3 g −1 . Kinetic and equilibrium tests were carried out in batch systems to study the materials’ sorption performances. The intraparticle diffusion model best fitted the experimental kinetic data. The maximum ibuprofen sorption capacities were 120 mg g −1 and 133 mg g −1 for CoAC and CeDC, respectively, whereas no major differences on the maximum paracetamol sorption capacities (qm) were observed among the sorbents (150–159 mg g −1 ). Therefore, CeDC, synthesized easily from a ceramic composite, improved time and sorption capacity of paracetamol and ibuprofen compared to the commercial activated carbon, indicating the potential of the developed carbon as an emerging pollutant sorbent material.