Abstract: An improved apparatus and method for a regeneration of a solid adsorbent used to pretreat a gas before liquefaction. The spent adsorbent is subjected to a two-step regenerative process, in the first of which the adsorbent is subjected to a low pressure produced by the use of mechanical vacuum pumps. When the pressure of the atmosphere in contact with the adsorbent has been reduced to a level sufficiently low to insure that the gas will flow under laminar rather than viscous conditions, the adsorbent is exposed to the action of a cryoplate condenser maintained at a sufficiently low temperature to cause any molecules of water which impinge thereon to condense and freeze, thereby reducing the partial pressure of water vapor within the chamber. The reduced partial pressure of the water vapor in turn causes adsorbed water on the adsorbent to be desorbed, thereby effectively removing the water from the adsorbent and depositing it as solid ice on the cryoplate condenser.