Activated carbon was prepared with corn cobs and potassium hydroxide under optimized variables. Due to their botanical origin, corn cobs can be an excellent starting material to produce nanoporous carbon for natural gas storage. Samples with different BET surface areas were chosen to perform methane adsorption experiments. Methane adsorptions on corn cob based activated carbon were studied at four different pressures (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 psi) and two different temperatures (298 K and 323 K) in a volumetric adsorption apparatus. The volume based methane adsorption results specified an 'increase in the methane adsorption capacities of activated carbon with increasing surface area and showed that adsorption capacity of methane depends on pressure and temperature. The highest methane storage capacity was found to be 160 (v/v) at 298K and 1500 psi. The applications include use in the transportation of natural gas, natural gas based vehicles, and adsorption of gas from landfills. (C) 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.