| Summary: | Polymers have been proven to be an interesting class of adsorbents applied in water treatment. Biopolymers are of special interest due to their unique properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and reusability. This work reports a composite formed by a chitosan biopolymer and activated charcoal using sodium citrate as a crosslinking agent. The chitosan–citrate-activated charcoal composite (CCA) was characterized using FT–IR, SEM, EDAX, XRD, TGA–DTA and BET surface area analysis. The material was found to be microporous in nature with a surface area of 165.83 m<sup>2</sup>/g that led to high adsorption capacities toward both the targeted pollutants. In an aqueous phase, the dye adsorption studies were carried out with reactive orange 16 (R-16) dye, while in a gaseous phase, CO<sub>2</sub> adsorption capacity was evaluated. Under optimum solution conditions, maximum R-16 dye removal capacity was found to be 34.62 mg g<sup>−1</sup>, while in the gas phase the CO<sub>2</sub> adsorption capacity was found to be 13.15 cm<sup>3</sup>g<sup>−1</sup>. Intrinsic microporosity of CCA resulted in an enhanced capture capacity for R-16 dye and carbon dioxide in the respective phases. Material sustainability studies were carried out to evaluate various sustainability parameters.
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