The present work highlights the advantages of preparing carbons intended for adsorption of natural gas by combining chemical activation of coconut shell with H 3 PO 4 or ZnCl 2 followed by physical activation with CO 2 . The use of small amounts of H 3 PO 4 or ZnCl 2 generates an incipient narrow microporosity without inducing significant reduction of bulk density when compared to the sample carbonized in the absence of chemicals. Subsequent physical activation permits to develop appropriately the primary pore structure generated by the chemical. This procedure made it possible to obtain materials with well developed porosity compatible with a relatively high bulk density. Therefore, granular activated carbons with methane adsorption capacity around 95V/V were obtained, which can be considered interesting for many large scale applications.