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The overuse of thiamethoxam (THM) has threatened the survival of living organisms and it is necessary to find an environmentally friendly material to remove THM frequently detected in water. Biochar prepared from cow manure modified with ZnCl 2 (Zn-CBC) was used to remove THM. Compared to the unmodified cow manure biochar (CBC), the removal ratio of THM by Zn-CBC was enhanced 35 times. In the mechanistic analysis, SEM and BET showed that Zn-CBC had a good pore structure and its specific surface area (166.502 m2 g−1) increased to 17 times that of CBC, indicating that Zn-CBC had good pore adsorption properties. The adsorption kinetic and isotherm implied that the main mechanism was chemisorption including π-π interaction and H-bonding. Furthermore, the stable graphitized structure of Zn-CBC allowed for efficient adsorption and reusability. In addition, this study constructed an intelligent prediction model using batch experiment data, and the high R2 (0.978) and low RMSE (0.057) implied that the model could accurately and quantitatively predict the adsorption efficiency. This paper provides a novel perspective to simultaneously remove the neonicotinoid insecticides and realize the resource utilization of cow manure. [Display omitted] • ZnCl 2 -modified biochar derived from cow manure was used to adsorb THM. • The specific surface area of Zn-CBC was 17 times that of CBC. • Zn-CBC had a stable adsorption capacity in a wide pH range. • The main adsorption mechanisms are pore filling, π-π conjugation and H bonding. • Quantitative prediction of THM removal ratio by artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]