The paper deals with the modeling of the effect of maldistribution in pollutant abatement trichloroethylene (TCE) concerning low concentration (10(-5)-10(-8)kg.m(-3)) adsorption in an adsorber. Such a concentration range is rather typical in many an environmental application. Isotherms and breakthrough curves for TCE adsorption are obtained both for a commercial activated carbon Sorbonorit 4 and a laboratory adsorber of d(B)/d(p)=11. Two two-dimensional nonequilibrium isothermal models are developed to describe the mass transfer in the fixed bed taking into account the effect of maldistribution. It is found the simulation results with maldistribution are in very good agreement with the experimental findings. Low concentration TCE adsorption in a fixed bed of activated carbon is found to be strongly influenced by maldistribution. The non-uniform distributions of concentration and loading of the pollutant in the adsorber are predicted by the model. Maldistribution and its effect on the initial breakthrough of TCE in the zone adjacent to the wall can also be calculated, wall-effect predictions are of importance to small scale columns where wall-effect appears to be dominating.