The goal of this work is to analyze the adsorption of binary and ternary mixtures on the basis of the multicomponent potential theory of adsorption (MPTA). In the MPTA, the adsorbate is considered as a segregated mixture in the external potential field emitted by the solid adsorbent. This makes it possible using the same equation of state to describe the thermodynamic properties of the segregated and the bulk phases. For comparison, we also used the ideal adsorbed solution theory, (IAST) to describe adsorption equilibria. The main advantage of these two models is their capabilities to predict multicomponent adsorption equilibria on the basis of single-component adsorption data. We compare the MPTA and IAST models to a large set of experimental data, obtaining reasonable good agreement with experimental data and high degree of predictability. Some limitations of both models are also discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.