The overall objective is to efficiently decrease the phenol content of the waste water down to less than 200 wt ppm so that the water is able to be treated by aerobic biological waste water treatment. The phenol is continuously removed from the water in the Oil Extraction Column by contacting the low pH water with cumene solvent that extracts the entrained phenol. The phenol is removed from the cumene in the Solvent Caustic Wash Column by contacting it with caustic. The lean solvent cumene is then returned to the Oil Extraction Column to start the process again. The caustic and phenol, now Sodium phenate, is sent to the Cumene-AMS Caustic Wash Column for further caustic utilization before transfer back to the Delay Pot for recovery of the phenol.