Application

Activated Carbon, Activated Charcoal, and Related Product Applications

Water

POU/POE
Groundwater remediation
Wastewater treatment
Process water treatment
Municipal water treatment
Aquarium water treatment
Dialysis

Air

Vapor extraction/remediation
VOC abatement
Gas Mask
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
Air stripper off-gas
Odor control
Catalyst support/protection
Tank venting

Food

Glycerin purification
Wine/fruit juice decolorization/deodorization
Edible oil purification
Corn and cane sugar decolorization

Chemical

Precious metal recovery
Glycol purification and recycling
Chemical or product purification
Sludge/soil stabilization
Catalyst support/protection
Amine purification
Dry cleaning solvent purification
Industrial oil purification
Solvent recovery

Miscellaneous

Ultra capacitor
Cigarette filters
Pharmaceutical

Gold Mine Application

CL 55 CARBURE GOLD CARBON

exhibits a highly developed pore structure to give optimum adsorption while maintaining high product hardness. This cotributes to a high gold loading capacity and consistency recovory of properties following regeneration. As a result, make-up requirements are minimized reducing the cost of operation.

Carbon-in-pulp (CIP) circuits
Carbon-in-leach (CIL) circuits
Carbon-column (CIC) processes

Carbon Basics

Introduction

Activated carbon can be made from a wide range of source materials such as coal, coconut shells and wood. The material is often charred to achieve carbon, followed by chemical activation or activation by high temperature steam. This produces an activated carbon with an extensive network of pores and an extremely high surface area (typical range is 300 to 2000 m2/g). The pores provide sites for the adsorption of chemical contaminants in gases or liquids.

Activation

Material such as wood, coconut shells or coal that is activated by steam is first carbonised to create charcoal. The carbonisation is performed at a temperature at approximately 550 degC in an oxygen free atmosphere. This process drives off all of the volatile organic compounds and leaves behind the carbon and the minerals (ash).

Steam Activation

The steam activation of the charcoal is then carried out an even higher temperature (up to 1000 degC) in a steam atmosphere. The activation reaction between charcoal and steam can be described as follows:
C + H2O => CO + H2 2 CO
The activation process can be controlled to produce specific product characteristics. Steam concentrations, temperature, activation time and CO2 concentrations influence pore development, which in turn affect pore size distributions and the level of activity.

Impregnation

Impregnation is the process where activated carbon is treated with a chemical reagent that reacts with low molecular weight or polar gases such as chlorine, sulphur dioxide, formaldehyde, and ammonia, binding them up on the carbon and thereby removing them from an airstream. This process, commonly referred to as "chemisorption", may involve neutralisation or catalysis reactions.
The impregnation process must be carefully controlled to ensure correct loading levels and even distribution of reagent on the carbon, without restricting access to the reaction sites within the pores. Properties such as activity, moisture content, and particle size affect the performance of the adsorbent, and can be controlled to optimise filter efficiency and service life.