ACTIVATED CARBON

MANUFACTURING
PLANTS

Submitted By Guided By,

Aswath Kc Jacob Abraham
Reg No: 16022654 Ajith Kumar
INTRODUCTION

• Activated carbon is a solid, porous, black carbonaceous material.

• Activated carbon is a form of carbon processed to be riddled with
small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for
adsorption or chemical reactions.
• It is distinguished from elemental carbon by the absence of both
impurities and an oxidized surface.
• It can be prepared from a large number of sources such as coconut,
wood, peat, coal, tar, sawdust, and cellulose residues.
ACTIVATED CARBON

• Activated carbon has an extraordinarily large surface area and pore

volume, making it suitable for a wide range of applications.

• It can be used as a decolorizing agent, a taste and odour removing

agent or as a purification agent in food processing.

• One major use of activated carbon is in water purification, including

the production of potable water and the treatment of waste and
ground waters.
HISTORY OF ACTIVATED CARBON

• The useful properties of activated carbon have been known since

ancient times.
• This traces back to 1500 BC when Egyptians used charcoal as an
adsorbent for medicinal purposes and a purifying agent.
• Around 420 BC it was observed that Hippocrates dusted wounds with
powdered charcoal to remove their odor.
• Ancient Hindu societies purified their water by filtration through
charcoal.
• In 1773, the Swedish chemist Karl Wilhelm Scheele was the first to
observe adsorption of gases on charcoal.
• A few years later activated carbons began being used in the sugar
industry as a decolorizing agent for syrup.
• In the early 20th century the first plant to produce activated carbon
industrially was built for use in sugar refining industry in Germany.
• Many other plants emerged in the early 1900’s to make activated
carbons primarily for decolorization.
• During World War I activated carbon was used in gas masks for
protection against hazardous gases and vapors.
PROPERTIES
• The carbon structure is resistant to acidic or basic media.
• The structure is stable at high temperature (even above 1000K), in the
absent of air.
• A gram of activated carbon can have a surface area in excess of 500
𝑚2 , with 1500 𝑚2 being readily achievable.
• Activated carbon binds materials by Van der Waals force or London
dispersion force physically.
• Activated carbon adsorbs iodine very well.
• Carbon monoxide is not well adsorbed by activated carbon.
• Cost of the carbon supports is usually lower than conventional
supports such as alumina and silica
• The most important property of activated carbon, the property that
determines its usage, is the pore structure.

• The total number of pores, their shape and size determine the
adsorption capacity and even the dynamic adsorption rate of the
activated carbon
• IUPAC classifies pores as follows:
 macropores: d0 > 50nm
 mesopores: 2 ≤ d0 ≤ 50nm
 micropores: d0 < 2nm
 ultramicropores: d0 < 0.7nm
 supermicropores: 0.7 < d0 <2nm
where d0 is the pore width for slit type pores or the pore diameter for cylindrical pores
• The macropores act as transport pathways, through which the
adsorptive molecules travel to the mesopores, from where they finally
enter the micropores.
• The micropores usually constitute the largest proportion of the internal
surface of the activated carbon and contribute most to the total pore
volume.
• Most of the adsorption of gaseous adsorptives takes place within these
micropores, where the attractive forces are enhanced and the pores are
filled at low relative pressures.
• Thus, the total pore volume and the pore size distribution determine
the adsorption capacity.
TYPES OF ACTIVATED CARBON

1. Powdered Activated Carbon

2. Granular activated carbon
3. Extruded activated carbon
4. Bead activated carbon (BAC)
5. Impregnated carbon
6. Polymer coated carbon
7. Woven carbon
Powdered Activated Carbon
• Also known as PAC
• Powdered activated carbon is a powder smaller than 100 mesh
(0.15mmφ).

Granular activated carbon

• Also known as GAC
• Has a larger particle size than PAC with an associated greater surface
area
Extruded activated carbon
• Also known as EAC
• It combines powdered activated carbon with a binder, which are fused
together and extruded into a cylindrical shaped activated carbon block
with diameters from 0.8 to 130 mm

Bead activated carbon (BAC)

• Also known as BAC
• Bead activated carbon (BAC) is made from petroleum pitch and
supplied in diameters from approximately 0.35 to 0.80 mm
Impregnated carbon
• Porous carbons containing several types of inorganic impregnate such
as iodine, silver, cations such as Al, Mn, Zn, Fe, Li, Ca have also been
prepared for specific application in air pollution control especially in
museums and galleries

Polymer coated carbon

• This is a process by which a porous carbon can be coated with a
biocompatible polymer to give a smooth and permeable coat without
blocking the pores
Woven carbon
• There is a technology of processing technical rayon fiber into activated
carbon cloth for carbon filtering
PRODUCTION OF ACTIVATED CARBON

• Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials

such as bamboo, coconut husk, willow peat, wood, coir, lignite, coal,
and petroleum pitch.

• It can be produced by one of the following processes:

I. Physical activation
II. Chemical activation
PHYSICAL ACTIVATION

• The source material is developed into activated carbons using hot

gases.
• Air is then introduced to burn out the gasses, creating a graded,
screened and de-dusted form of activated carbon.
• This is generally done by using one or a combination of the following
processes
• Carbonization: Material with carbon content is pyrolyzed at temperatures in
the range 600–900 °C
• Activation/Oxidation: Raw material or carbonized material is exposed to
oxidizing atmospheres (oxygen or steam) at temperatures above 250 °C
 CHEMICAL ACTIVATION
• Prior to carbonization, the raw material is impregnated with certain
chemicals.
• The chemical is typically an acid, strong base, or a salt
• Then, the raw material is carbonized at lower temperatures (450–900 °C).
• It is believed that the carbonization / activation step proceeds simultaneously
with the chemical activation.
• Chemical activation is preferred over physical activation owing to the lower
temperatures and shorter time needed for activating material.
World's largest reactivation plant Activated carbon reactivation center
located in Feluy, Belgium. in Roeselare, Belgium
APPLICATIONS

• The applications can be classified into two categories:

I. gas phase
II. liquid phase
APPLICATIONS (LIQUID PHASE):

• Food and Beverages

• Bear and wine
• Chili and spices
• Sugar, starch, sweeteners and maple syrup
• Caffeine
• Vegetable Oils
• Water treatment:
Treatment of both industrial and municipal waste water By using activated
carbon as a filter in the filtration industry

• Chemical and Pharmaceutical

• Industrial dry cleaning
• Cleaning of electroplating solutions
• Mineral recovery (Gold recovery)
 Activated charcoal for medical use

Activated carbon is usually used in water filtration systems. In

this illustration, the activated carbon is in the fourth level
(counted from bottom)
APPLICATIONS (GAS PHASE)

• Gas purification:
To produce pure gases in the chemical industry and reduce pollutant gases to a
very low concentrations in the single stage, in protection against poison gases,
activated carbon is being used
• Separation of Gas Mixture (SGM)
Are designed to separate gases in a mixture by sieving
• Methane storage
Using natural gas hydrate (NGH) as the adsorbate in AC.
• Solvent recovery
Recover the solvent vapors from air streams to adsorb by AC
Carbon Nanotubes
• Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) take the form of cylindrical carbon
molecules and their novel properties make them potentially useful in a
wide variety of applications
• They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties,
and are efficient conductors of heat.
CONCLUSION

• It may be inferred that adsorbent carbon fibre has many advantages

over activated carbon obtained from natural resources.
• However, its high cost and fragile nature stand in'the way of its large
scale acceptance.
• In specialised applications where a rigid control pver surface
properties is required, the carbon obtained using, well characterised
polymeric precursor is the material of choice
ANY DOUBTS