The adsorption characteristics of chloroform, acetone, and acetonitrile on commercial activated carbon (C1), two types of activated carbon fibers (F1 and F2), and sludge adsorbent (S1) was investigated. The chloroform influent concentration ranged from 90 to 7800ppm and the acetone concentration from 80 to 6900 ppm; the sequence of the adsorption capacity of chloroform and acetone on adsorbents was F2 > F1 similar to C1 similar to S1. The adsorption capacity of acetonitrile ranged from 4 to 100 mg/g, corresponding to the influent range from 43 to 2700 ppm for C1, S1, and F1. The acetonitrile adsorption capacity of F2 was similar to 20% higher than that of the other adsorbents at temperatures <30 degrees C. The Freundlich equation fit the data better than the Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) equations. The adsorption rate of carbon fibers is higher than that of the other adsorbents due to their smaller fiber diameter and higher surface area. The micropore diffusion coefficient of VOC on activated carbon and sludge adsorbent was similar to 10(-4) cm(2) s(-1). The diffusion coefficient of VOC on carbon fibers ranged from 10(-8) to 10(-1) cm(2) s(-1). The small carbon fiber pore size corresponds to a smaller diffusion coefficient. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.