Abstract The KamLAND2-Zen experiment is a future plan to perform the search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0 vββ ) by using a large liquid-scintillator (LS) based detector, i.e., KamLAND2. The KamLAND detector will be upgraded by increasing the light yield of scintillation. One of the upgrade plans consists of using a new linear alkylbenzene (LAB) based LS. We have developed the LAB-LS radio-purification method by using a metal scavenger. The scavenging process resulted in a Pb-removal efficiency of 90.1±1.0% at most, and LS performance parametrics, such as light yield, light transparency, amount of radioactive impurities remaining, and the concentration of components were observed to be stable after scavenging. Therefore, it can be asserted that scavenging is a useful method for LS purification.