Activated carbon was produced from coconut shell through chemical activation using phosphoric acid. The optimization of process parameters namely activation temperature (400-700 °C), time (30- 120 min) and impregnation ratio (0.5-3:1) was carried out using L16 Taguchi design with iodine number as a response variable. Sixteen experiments were performed at the conditions given by the Taguchi design and their corresponding iodine number was estimated. The optimized conditions for phosphoric acid activation were found to 600 °C, 60 min and 2:1 impregnation ratio with the iodine number of 1230 mg g-1.Activation temperature was the most influential factor on pore characteristics of activated carbon followed by impregnation ratio and time. The study inferred that phosphoric acid can be an effective activating agent for the production of porous carbons.