The adsorption of n-butane on an extruded cylindrical activated carbon was studied providing two kinds of information: the influence of the temperature and the hydrocarbon partial pressure on the adsorption dynamics (kinetic study) and on the carbon adsorption capacities (thermodynamic study). The activated carbon used showed a bimodal porous distribution (micropores and large macropores) and a rather homogeneous site distribution. The thermodynamical aspect could be interpreted by a Langmuir model. Generally, adsorption kinetic curves are described by diffusion models which often assume isothermal and isobaric conditions. Nevertheless, we have experimentally proved in this paper that strong temperature variations occur inside the particles during the adsorption. In our case, we have showed that experimental kinetic curves were found to be in good agreement with the predictions of a kinetic Langmuir law which corresponds to an interfacial limiting step and which takes into account the inner temperature variations.