Reverse osmosis (RO) process is progressively engaged in various industrial applications as a promising separation process in favour of classical methods. In this study, an earlier one-dimensional distributed model of RO process, developed by the author, is used to simulate the transport phenomena of phenol removal. The proposed model represented the process parameters as a function of longitudinal variation along the x-coordinate of feed side. The transport parameters of the membrane are optimised by the gEST parameter estimation tool of gPROMS. The model is verified against phenol removal experimental data for a pilot-scale spiral wound RO (SWRO) treatment system. The model has been used to explore the effects of key operating parameters on the phenol removal for five feed concentration cases.