Phenol removal from aqueous solution was studied employing chitin as low cost biosorbent. Initial biosorption tests carried out in the pH range 2-10 pointed out an optimum pH of 2. Temperature and initial phenol concentration were then varied in the ranges 15 <= T <= 50 degrees C and 10.4 <= C-o <= 90.8 mg L-1, respectively. The good applicability of Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models (R-2 = 0.990-0.993) to describe equilibrium isotherms suggested an intermediate mono-/multilayer biosorption mechanism along with a semi-homogeneous architecture of biosorbent surface. Biosorption capacity progressively increased from 3.56 to 12.7 mg g(-1) when starting phenol concentration was raised from 10.4 to 90.8 mg L-1, and the related sorption kinetics was investigated by pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. The pseudo second-order model, which showed the best fit of experimental data (R-2 = 0.999), allowed estimating a second-order rate constant of 0.151 g mg(-1) h(-1) and a theoretical sorption capacity of 7.63 mg g(-1). Phenol biosorption capacity increased with temperature up to a maximum value, beyond which it decreased, suggesting the occurrence of a thermoinactivation equilibrium. Finally, to identify the main functional groups involved in phenol biosorption, both raw and phenol-bound materials were explored by FT-IR spectroscopy. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.