A white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, immobilized with the wood chips of Italian poplar, was employed for biodegradation of phenolic compounds in coking wastewater. The immobilized fungus, dried by vacuum freeze desiccator. was kept high activity after a 9-month preservation and easy to be activated and domesticated. The removal rates of phenolic compounds and COD by immobilized fungus were 87.05% and 72.09% in 6 days, which were obviously higher than that by free fungus. For phenolic compounds biodegradation, a pH ranging from 4.0 to 6.0 and a temperature ranging from 28 C to 37 degrees C create suitable conditions, and optimum 5.0 and 35 degrees C. respectively. The optimum removal rate of phenolic compounds was over 84% and COD was 80% in 3 days. And the biodegradation of phenolic compounds followed the first-order kinetics. It is an efficient and convenient method for coking wastewater treatment. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.