Rohm and Haas' XAD-4, -7 and -16 Amberlites, sp. surface 750, > 400 and 750 m(2)/g, resp., particle size 0.3-1.2 mm, were used to sorb phenol from (3, 5, or 20 g/L) PhOH-(30 g/L) Na2SO4 solutions in a fixed-bed column. The solutions were models of the cumene process (making PhOH and Me2CO) wastewaters. Each was applied at 2 mL/h/mL sorbent and collected in 0.2 L fractions at room temp. Batch tests using 0.6-25 g sorbent kept in 100 mL of aq. 10 g/L PhOH containing 0, 20 or 50 g/L Na2SO4 at room temp., showed XAD-4 (poly(styrene-co-DVB)) and XAD-7 (poly(Me acrylate-co-DVB)) to sorb most and least of PhOH, ca. 70 and ca. 30 g/L sorbent, resp. Freundlich isotherm equation gave better correlations than Langmuir. Aq. 5M NaOH, 60degreesC, was best to desorb the bed, 6 vols/bed vol; the dephenolized model solution was used to elute the NaOH. Two-step dephenolization is advised: (a) from 20-30 to 3-5 g/L by a membrane technique, e.g., pervaporation; (b) from 3-5 to 0 g/L by sorption on a polymeric sorbent (XAD-4) in the presence of a salting-out agent (Na2SO4).