Abstract: Five kinds of wood-based granular activated carbons obtained from different raw materials and technologies have been experimentally studied for n-butane adsorption. The results indicate that butane adsorption capacity of activated carbon is strongly influenced by the specific surface area,pore volume and pore size distribution. It is the micropores between 1.16 nanometer and 2.0 nanometer that play the most important effect on adsorption. To obtain higher butane working capacity,it is important to form the micropores with diameter between 1.2 nanometer and 4 nanometer and high pore volume. The butane retentivity is significantly effected by the pores between 0.5 nanometer and 1.0 nanometer. Besides,as for macropore,it plays unappreciable role in the adsorption value,just acting transport for adsorbates.