Energetic heterogeneity of activated carbons prepared from bituminous coals is investigated on the basis of adsorption isotherms of phenol from the dilute aqueous solutions. The Langmuir-Freundlich (L-F) equation has been used to estimate the monolayer capacity values of carbons studied. Adsorption energy distribution functions have been calculated by using algorithm INTEG based on a regularization method. Analysis of these functions for carbons provided significant comparative information about their heterogeneity. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.