High-quality granular carbons are characterised by high density and mechanical strength, and a high sorption capacity from the gas-vapour medium. A technology for obtaining this sorbent from deciduous wood is being developed at the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry. The basic processes of the technology are hydrothermal modification of wood, during which, as a result of the effect of autohydrolysis, a part of the easily hydrolysable polysaccharides is degraded, drying, pelleting, carbonisation and activation with steam. The problems of technological by-products or emissions emerge in the wood modification process – during autohydrolysis and drying, which are connected with utilizing of water and steam, therefore, with the corresponding wastewater and gas-vapour emissions in the atmosphere.