Waste phenolic resin was employed to prepare a composite adsorptive carbon material via the pyrolysis method. Co（NO3）2 doping amount was set to be 0.75%, 1.0%, 1.5%, and the pyrolysis temperature 700 ℃, 900 ℃, 1 100 ℃, respectively. Morphology and formation mechanism of the material were investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy were used to explore the effect of catalyst amount and pyrolysis temperature on the formation of carbon nanotubes. BET surface area test method and BJH model were employed to calculate specific surface area and average pore size. The magnetic test and Zeta potential were used to characterize the magnetic separation of the material and the stability under different pH. The adsorption and removal efficiencies of material with different doping levels for Bisphenol A (BPA) were compared with those of commercial carbon nanotubes. And the adsorption isotherms of Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to fit the adsorption data to explore the adsorption mechanism. The results showed that carbon nanotubes were uniformly generated on the surface of the material, with cobalt oxides inside the carbon tubes and at the ends. The specific surface area of the material was 290.74 m2/g and the average pore diameter was only 3.63 nm. Adsorption equilibrium could be reached within 6 hours and the adsorption process was more consistent with the Freundlich model, indicating that there were different types of active adsorption sites on the surface of the material, and adsorption occurred at a complex heterogeneous interface. The maximum adsorption capacity was 53.19 mg/g.