Ordered mesoporous carbon is a recently developed material. To test its potential application for adsorption, such a material was synthesized using silica SBA-15 as the template and sucrose as the carbon source. The ordered structure and the mesopore dimension of the material were proven with XRD, SEM and TEM examinations. Adsorption data of H-2, N-2, O-2, CH4 and CO2 on the ordered mesoporous carbon were collected with a typical volumetric method for a pressure range up to 11 MPa. Potential application for the separation of CO2-CH4-air mixture was indicated. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.