Waste bleaching earth from the food industry obtained in the process of fruit juice purification was utilized for preparation of carbon-mineral adsorbents. The waste material, containing 25.8 wt% C, was subjected to three kinds of treatment: (I) direct pyrolysis at 400degreesC with a suitable temperature program; (2) preliminary hydrothermal modification (200degreesC, 8 h, 15.3 atm) and then pyrolysis as in method 1; (3) preliminary thermal treatment (400degreesC) and then chemical treatment (boiling in 3% solution Na2CO3), followed by heating at 400degreesC (10 min). Moreover, the materials obtained by these methods were subjected to additional thermal treatment at 700degreesC with a suitable temperature program. Both the morphology and the topography of carbon deposits and, in consequence, the porous structure of the obtained adsorbents depend on the method of their preparation. The additional thermal treatment of these samples at 700degreesC makes it possible to obtain adsorbents of more thermally stable carbon deposits possessing better parameters of the porous structure. Carbon-mineral adsorbents of different specific surface areas (S-BET from 17.6 to 153 m(2)/g) and pore volumes (from 0.035 to 0.093 cm(3)/g) were prepared. The mechanism of phenol and p-nitrophenol adsorption on the obtained adsorbents was discussed and their properties were compared with the suitable literature data. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.