Archive for January, 2010

Activated carbon is the form of carbon which has been processed to be extremely porous and used for absorption because of its high degree of micro porosity. Activated carbon filtering is used to remove contamination and impurities by chemical reaction. The activated carbon normally activated with positive charge attracts negatively charged contaminants. Activated carbon is normally used for water and air purification.

There are two types of carbon filter powder block filters and granular activated filters which are widely used in purification industry. The activated carbon is effective in removing sediments, chlorines and bacteria from the water. Normally across the globe most of the household uses Reverse osmosis purification units which contains granular activated carbon content in its filters for effective purification. Water filters just helps to remove impurities from the water by means of physical barrier, but when fixed with activated carbon is safe and healthy.

Carbon is an element which has a proven history of its use on absorbing impure particles and probably one of the most powerful adsorbents we have known until now. Activated carbon could be defined as that a kind of carbon which exhibits electropositive charge, that attracts chemicals and other impurities to it. When impure water is made to pass over the activated carbon, the negatively charged particles of the contaminants get attracted to the surface of the granular carbon.

Activated carbon water filters employed for domestic water purification normally consist of either granular activated carbon or powder activated carbon. Both are known to be equally efficient in removing contaminants owing to activated carbon adsorption properties. Actually, how well a certain carbon filter performs depends upon the quantity of carbon used in the filter and length of time the contaminated water is made to pass over it. More carbon means better filtration and similarly the slower the flow of water, the better will be activated carbon adsorption.

The role of granular activated carbon treatment is very effective in removing a number of organic compounds and also radon and chlorine and also certain cancer producing compounds. The granular activated carbon filters are also quite cost effective as compared to other filters, which are not known to remove the contaminants efficiently.