In this study, we compressed hydrogen up to 70 MPa in a non-mechanical device based on cyclic, thermally driven, hydrogen adsorption/desorption on activated carbon (AC). Hydrogen compression comes from the desorption of a pre-adsorbed amount of hydrogen at 77 K on a bed of AC closely packed in high-pressure reservoir. A prototype of 0.5 L containing an AC (MSC-30, Kansai, Japan) having a BET area higher than 3000 m2 g−1 and a volume of micropores around 1 cm3 g−1, was used. The effect of the AC amount, the hydrogen charging pressure and the temperature of desorption on the compression performances was investigated, both experimentally and numerically. Hydrogen was introduced at 8 MPa and pre-adsorbed on 0.135 kg of MSC-30 at 77K. A high-pressure hydrogen flow, up to 28 NL h−1 at 70 MPa, was obtained in a single step when heating the compressor from 77 to 315 K. We proved that high surface area, large volume of micropores, as well as very narrow pores, are the essential requirements for any AC to be used in such compressor. The use of microporous AC in a thermally driven device for hydrogen compression, based on cyclic adsorption/desorption, had never been investigated before. This innovative system might solve several issues hindering the development of the hydrogen supply chain