The use of peat for removal of copper(II) from aqueous solution has been investigated at various initial copper ion concentrations and masses of peat. The equilibrium sorption study can be described by the Langmuir equation and defined in terms of the operating lines for each batch contacting system. The mechanisms of the rate of sorption of copper(II) were analysed using the Elovich equation and a pseudo-second-order model. Both rate mechanisms provided a very high degree of correlation of the experimental sorption rate data suggesting either model could be used in design applications.