Activated carbon (AC) materials are porous structures generated by activation of either pyrolyzed plant or coke materials through physical or chemical means. While being widely used in industry for water, air, and product purification, ACs also may be suitable for the removal of pollutants from flue gas or sulfur compounds from natural gas fuels before combustion, provided the processes/materials are economic. ACs derived from petroleum coke (petcoke) that is 5 often stranded and considered a low-quality byproduct are relatively inexpensive. To date, the pure component adsorption and selectivities for AC from petcoke have not been reported and compared to other reported ACs for practical application with flue gas, sour gas, or acid gas purification. Here we show that an AC from petcoke displays both high-selectivity and capacity toward SO2 and H2S. Single component volumetric adsorption experiments show adsorption as high as 554 mg g(-1) for SO2 at p = 0.56 bar and 256 mg g(-1) for H2S at p = 1 bar (T = 25 degrees C). This SO2 uptake is 66% higher than the previous highest SO2 uptake on an AC and 39 times as selective toward SO2 versus N-2. These results suggest that AC from petcoke is an excellent material for recovering sulfur compounds from industrial flue gas or raw fuel, with the benefit of making use of a petroleum solid waste.