How To Choose High Quality Activated Carbon ？

Activated carbon, also known as activated carbon black, is a kind of carbon material treated by a series of processes such as crushing, sieving, activation and screening. Activated carbon has excellent adsorption performance and stability, its main component is carbon, containing a small amount of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur and other elements, has a strong adsorption and purification capacity, can effectively adsorb all kinds of organic and inorganic pollutants in the gas and water phase environment, widely used in medicine, chemical industry, food, environmental protection and other fields, for decolourisation and deodorisation, purification of wastewater, as well as the adsorption of formaldehyde, VOCs, soot and other harmful substances. It is widely used in the fields of medicine, chemical industry, food and environmental protection.

Although the strong adsorption capacity of activated carbon for enterprises to solve the industrial production process of waste water and waste gas treatment and other issues, but after many adsorption reaction of activated carbon, the internal chemical changes and structural changes will lead to the activation of activated carbon activity is reduced, the specific surface area decreases, the adsorption capacity can not meet the needs of the production and become waste activated carbon.

The shape, quality and size of activated carbon on the market are not the same, from the surface is nothing more than a black paste particles, how to distinguish the quality of good and bad? Here we come to judge the quality of the activated carbon we buy by ‘seeing, touching, weighing, testing and measuring’, today Xinjing Environment explains for you~!

• Look

① Look at the volume

The reason why the adsorption of activated carbon is strong is that it has more pores, and the activated carbon will be loose with it, and the lighter the weight will be. Therefore, in the case of good quality activated carbon with the same weight package, the activated carbon with good performance will have a much larger volume than the poor quality activated carbon.

② Look at the particle size

The smaller the particles of activated carbon, the larger the area of contact with the air, and the better the adsorption effect. It is not recommended to buy activated carbon with particles larger than 2mm. The smaller the particles, the larger the specific surface area and the better the adsorption effect. But small particles of activated carbon, the production process loss is large, resulting in more dust, so many manufacturers in order to reduce costs, the use of large particles of activated carbon, the effect is very poor.

③ Look at the outer packaging

The outer packaging of activated carbon must be sealed, and at the same time, the iodine adsorption value, specific surface area, factory information and other basic information of activated carbon should be clearly written on the outer packaging, otherwise, it is difficult to judge whether the activated carbon is good or bad.

Second, touch

activated carbon in the process of production, the dust generated by the activated carbon will be processed. If there is too much dust, the activated carbon will be easily dirty in your hand, and if it is inhaled into the human body, it will also be harmful to the human body. Currently on the market low-quality activated carbon in order to reduce the cost, the hardness is greatly reduced, while there is no de-powdering and de-dusting of activated carbon, so mutual friction will produce a large number of fine powder, dust is very heavy, it will be very dirty to use, and will also dirty the surrounding items.

Third, weigh

The higher the adsorption capacity of activated carbon, the more pores, the more fluffy activated carbon, the relative density will be lighter. Therefore, good activated carbon will feel lighter, and in the case of the same weight package, the good performance of activated carbon will be much larger than the volume of low-quality activated carbon.

• Try

Method 1:

Put a small amount of activated carbon into the water, due to the penetration of water, the water will gradually soak into the pore structure of the activated carbon, forcing the air in the pores to be discharged, thus producing a series of extremely small bubbles, pulling out a tiny bubble line in the water, while emitting a silky bubble sound. The more intense this phenomenon occurs, the longer it lasts, the better the adsorption of activated carbon.

Method 2:

Activated carbon has the special ability to turn coloured liquids into light or colourless ones. Take two shiny cups, put pure water in one cup and then a drop of red ink any pigment that can be easily examined but does not change the nature of the water will do, such as blue ink, printer's coloured ink, but not ink and carbon ink).

After mixing well, pour half of the coloured water into another cup for comparison. Place the activated carbon into the coloured water in an amount that is more than half of the water so that the effect is noticeable. After standing for 10-20 minutes, compare with a control water sample. Under the same conditions, the stronger the decolourisation effect, the better the adsorption of the activated carbon.

• V. Measurement

Method 1:

Commission a qualified unit to monitor the activated carbon purchased in accordance with the relevant national standards and provide the corresponding monitoring report.

Method 2:

Before purchasing activated carbon, manufacturers should provide corresponding test reports or product quality certificates.

Supplementary：What are the common adsorption indexes of activated carbon?

Iodine adsorption value, carbon tetrachloride (CTC) adsorption value, methylene blue adsorption value. Iodine adsorption value is used to indicate the adsorption capacity of activated carbon on liquid substances; carbon tetrachloride adsorption value is used to indicate the adsorption capacity of activated carbon on gaseous substances; methylene blue adsorption value is used to indicate the ability of activated carbon to decolourise.

The higher these three indexes are, the stronger the adsorption capacity of activated carbon is. So it is not that the higher iodine adsorption value of activated carbon is necessarily better, but also to comprehensively assess other indicators.