“…However, several works report a decrease in phenol adsorption from water with surface oxidation Mahajan et al, 1980;Leng, 1996;Franz et al, 2000;Terzyk, 2003Terzyk, , 2004Moreno-Castilla, 2004). Since lignites are rich in oxygen surface groups Küçükbayrak et al, 2000), they have a high affinity for water (Allardice and Evans, 1971;Schafer, 1972;Kaji et al, 1986;Müller and Gubbins, 1998;Lee and Reucroft, 1999). Therefore, the decrease in adsorption with oxidation is attributed to the preferential hydration of the surface oxygen groups over the hydrogen-bonding of the -OH of the phenol molecule.…”