Active carbon adsorbents were prepared from natural elutrilithe by chemical activation with K2CO3. The effect of pyrolysis temperature and time and K2CO3/elutrilithe ratio on the surface area, porosity, and ash content of the adsorbents was studied. Various prior and post treatments have been tried to improve the quality of the adsorbents. An ideal active carbon adsorbent with a BET surface area of 1236 m2/g and a total pore volume of 0.679 cm3/g has been obtained. The adsorbent is hydrophobic in nature and exhibits large adsorption capacities for various phenolic compounds from aqueous solutions. Copyright 1997Academic Press