In this article, a thermodynamic analysis of an ideal adsorption cooling system is presented using activated carbon of type Maxsorb III and n-butane as adsorbent-refrigerant pair. The analysis is based on experimentally confirmed adsorption isotherms and isosteric heat of adsorption data for n-butane on pitch based activated carbon (type Maxsorb III). The effects of specific cooling effect (SCE) and coefficient of performance (COP) are analyzed with the variation of heat source temperature. Results indicate that the maximum SCE and COP obtained from activated carbon/n-butane based adsorption cycle are 26 kJ/kg and 0.18, respectively. © 2012 IEEE.