Abstract:In this study, removal of phenol which is classified as priority pollutant by US EPA, was experimentally investigated using different removal techniques including; adsorption using Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), biodegradation using six different active phenol uptaking bacteria, combined GAC sorption and biodegradation (Biological Activated Carbon, BAC) and GAC coupled with inactive bacteria (biosorption). A solution of 100 mg LG 1 phenol at room temperature was considered as the wastewater. The study was performed in the temperature range 25-30°C. The results of these different techniques revealed that activated carbon sorption is better than the other methods in removing phenol. The removal efficiency of this technique reached a value of 97% corresponding to residual phenol concentration of 3 mg LG 1 . The equilibrium sorption was reached after 48 h of contact. The adsorption data was better fitted to Langmuir model with adsorption capacity of 90 mg gG 1 . The adsorption was found to be second order with both intraparticle diffusion and film diffusion to control the adsorption process. The least effective removing method of phenol was the biodegradation using active bacteria alone. The residual concentration of phenol attained by this method was 17 mg LG 1 . According to the results of this study approximately 80% of the overall biological activity for removal of phenol was due to the surface sorption on the cell wall, whereas, about 20% of this activity was due to biodegradation.