Carbon consumption of activated carbon varies with the sulfur-containing products. In this work, differential thermogravimetric (DTG), electron paramagnetic resonance (ESR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) were used to reveal the adsorptionregeneration process of H 2 S and the effect of adsorption products on carbon consumption. H 2 S reacts with the C=C bond to form C-S bond as an intermediate state, followed by the formation of elemental sulfur. It directly sublimates at approximately 380 °C , about 30 °C higher than the decomposition temperature of H 2 SO 4 . In the thermal regeneration process, the elemental sulfur in the form of monoclinic sulfur (S 8 ) rst breaks into in nitely long chain molecules (S ∞ ) and then into small molecules, nally into sulfur vapor. The desorption of elemental sulfur consumes less oxygen and carbon functional groups, reducing the chemical carbon consumption by 59.8% than H 2 SO 4 . The compressive strength reduces less due to its slight effect on the disordered graphitic structure. H 2 S also reacts with the C=O bond to form H 2 SO 3 or H 2 SO 4 . The desorption of H 2 SO 3 does not require carbon consumption. The decomposition of H 2 SO 4 needs to react with C=C bond to release SO 2 , CO 2 , and CO, and the compressive strength of activated carbon signi cantly decreases. The carbon consumption originates from two aspects, the one from the regeneration of sulfur-containing products is more than twice of the other one from the decomposition of oxygen-containing functional groups.