Anthropogenic activities and transportation are primarily responsible for the release of CO2 into the atmosphere. In this work, waste-based adsorbents are used to capture CO2 by sorption. Activated carbon was prepared using wild sugarcane and shrimp shells, and it was analyzed using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies, and X-ray dispersive spectroscopy. Sorption results show a maximum CO2 uptake of 5.034 × 10−3 mol/g and 4.014 × 10−3 mol/g for the sorbent activated carbon-wild sugar cane shrimp shells (AC-WSSS) and activated carbon-sawdust shrimp shells (AC-SDSS), respectively. Thermodynamic studies of the sorbent AC-WSSS and AC-SDSS were performed and ΔG° (7.45 and 7.48 kJ/mol), ΔH° (13.66 and −48.57 kJ/mol), and ΔS° (38.32 and 36.44 kJ/mol.K) were calculated, and the feasibility of the process was evaluated. The experimental data of the activated carbon isotherm from sawdust and wild sugar cane shells was demonstrated with Langmuir, Freundlich, D-R, Temkin and Sips adsorption isotherm. Higher R2 (0.9855) value for Langmuir isotherm shows the applicability of the model. The equilibrium point was reached in 80 and 85 min for the prepared biomass AC-WSSS and AC-SDSS, respectively. Desorption results show that the sorbent can be recycled for 3 cycles. It is observed that more than 80% of CO2 is removed from acetone even after three cycles of desorption experiments. From this work, it reveals that the adsorbent AC-WSSS and AC-SDSS finds to be a better potential for CO2 capture as adsorbent. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.) © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.