In this work, a novel multi-stage external loop airlift reactor has been designed to remove phenol from wastewater by means of its adsorption onto the surface of activated carbons. The multi-staging has been achieved by hydrodynamically induced continuous bubble generation, breakup and regeneration. The continuous rupture and bursting of bubbles creates localized turbulence and recirculation, which helps in faster transfer of trace pollutants to the active sites of the solid adsorbents. Thus, the pollutants get adsorbed to the surface of the solid adsorbents due to continuous agitation. Different operating parameters that affect the performance of the reactor are the superficial gas velocity, liquid circulation velocity, concentration of the pollutant present in wastewater, contact time and the carbon loading. The results show that the removal time as well as the activated carbon loading for this system were quite lower as compared to simple batch adsorption systems. The kinetic data were fitted to the models of intra-particle diffusion, pseudo-second-order and Lagergren, and followed more closely the Lagergren pseudo-first-order model. Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to study the adsorption isotherms. A correlation has been developed to predict the efficiency of percentage removal of phenol and found to be highly significant from statistical point of view. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.