The aim of this article is to highlight the behavior differences between an indirectly cooled temperature: swing adsorption (TSA) adsorber and other adsorbers classically studied in TSA systems (adiabatic, near-adiabatic and isothermal) during adsorption of a mixture of gases. For this purpose, a numerical model is presented and validated from experimental results. By means of this model, the temperature, gas molar fractions and adsorbed concentration profiles are drawn at different times. The various zones of the adsorption patterns are identified and compared. The influence of the feed and initial bed temperatures is discussed too. From these results, the advantages of indirectly cooled adsorbers are pointed out. A new criterion for the possibility of omitting the cooling step in TSA cycles, based on the bed cooling efficiency, is then proposed for the indirectly cooled adsorbers. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.