Methods for the preparation of active carbons from many kinds of carbonaceous material have been described in the literature. Many processes of activation for many different raw materials are used to obtain active carbons for specific purposes. In general, all of these processes involve a low temperature carbonization of the raw material followed by a slow, controlled oxidation of the carbonized product. A high temperature of carbonization (above 600°C.) results in a product which is not active and cannot be activated. Any selection of a process or raw material must be based on a knowledge of the ultimate use of the product as well as on economic considerations. Certain physical properties are desirable for certain uses in addition to the general property of being adsorbent to foreign molecules. A gas adsorbent carbon should be dense with a rather small pore size; while liquid adsorbent carbons should be less dense, not triable, easily filterable from solutions, and have a larger pore size than the gas adsorbent type of carbon. In view of the low yield obtained in any process of activation, a cheap and plentiful raw material would be advantageous. Coal is such a raw material and active carbons have been prepared and used to a limited extent from coals. It has been reported that an initial chlorination of a geologically young coal before its carbonization results in a high yield of a good active carbon. The existence of large deposits of such a coal in the Piedmont section of Virginia and North Carolina which has not been exploited to any great extent, because it is not suitable as a fuel, seems to warrant a further investigation of this chlorination process with an idea of its possible economic use in the preparation of an active carbon. The purpose of this investigation in the preparation of a liquid adsorbent active carbon from a high volatile Midlothian coal by a process of chlorination followed by carbonization and steam activation. / M.S.