An industrially widely used technology for the removal of condensable components like water and mercaptans from natural gas is cyclic temperature swing adsorption. Optimized design of these coupled adsorption-desorption processes requires detailed knowledge of desorption properties of the used adsorbents. Therefore, the desorption behavior of water, methyl mercaptan, and ethyl mercaptan was investigated on a commercial silica alumina gel. In dynamic experiments, a preloaded fixed bed was regenerated with hot purge gas (300 degrees C), and time-dependent concentration and temperature profiles were measured and discussed by means of equilibrium theory. Characteristic plateau temperatures were found between 43 and 63 degrees C, rising with the adsorption affinity. Experiments with competitive adsorption of water and mercaptans show that process dynamics are mainly controlled by water. The results are evaluated with regard to technical relevance.