Activated carbon prepared from rubber seed coat (RSCC), an agricultural waste by-product, has been used for the adsorption of phenol from aqueous solution. In this work, adsorption of phenol on rubber seed coat activated carbon has been studied by using batch and column studies. The equilibrium adsorption level was determined to be a function of the solution pH, adsorbent dosage and contact time. The equilibrium adsorption capacity of rubber seed coat activated carbon for phenol removal was obtained by using linear Freundlich isotherm. The adsorption of phenol on rubber seed coat activated carbon follows first order reversible kinetics. The suitability of RSCC for treating phenol based resin manufacturing industry wastewater was also tested. A comparative study with a commercial activated carbon (CAC) showed that RSCC is 2.25 times more efficient compared to CAC based on column adsorption study for phenolic wastewater treatment. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.