Treatment of wood with a nitrogen flow containing water vapor yielded charcool with surface area of 700 and 800 m(2) g(-1), comparable to that of activated carbon, at 1, 050 and 1, 100 K, respectively. Analysis of the reaction products confirmed that water-gas reaction proceeded during the treatment to form micropores. Equipment for continuous treatment of wood with steam was assembled and shown to produce the activated carbon with surface area of ca. 700 m(2) g(-1) at the capacity of ca. 1.4 kg h(-1).