History and use of activated carbon

Activated carbon has been used to treat water for more than 2000 years. It was produced commercially in Holland at the beginning of the 20th century and used to de-colorize sugar and distilled spirits. From 1930 it was used for water treatment to remove taste and odour. As a consequence of ww1, granulated activated carbon (gac) was developed for gas masks, and subsequently used for solvent recovery and air purification.

The unique thermal activation process used in manufacturing activated carbon produces an very large surface area, Eg, 1 gram = > 1000 m².

The carbon surface is non-polar which results in an affinity for non-polar adsorbates such as volatile organic contaminates that can remain in the water after the distillation phase. Adsorption is a surface phenomenon in which adsorbates are attracted to and held onto the pore surface of the carbon by Van der Waal's forces.

Water distillers and post carbon treatment

Water distillers can actually allow a tiny percentage of impurities, voc’s to migrate into the storage container during distillation. Voc’s including some pesticides and solvents, boil at temperatures below or very close to water (98 - 103° C) . Distillation alone might not be enough to remove voc's. Distillers equipped to remove these substances have activated carbon post treatment filters.

As a manufacturer and exporter of water purification equipment, we understand the importance of quality control procedures. We source all our granulated activated carbon from a US supplier, who has certification, approvals and membership of the following :-

Membership of the American Water Quality Association (wqa), ASTM International D28 committee on activated carbon, and the International Activated Carbon Manufacturers Association (iacma).

All of our activated carbon products meet American Waterworks Association (awwa) standard B604 for activated carbon used for drinking water and US FDA codex as food grade products, and are NSF 42 certified for point of use (pou) applications.

Carbon lot analysis data is available upon request.