Whilst purifying some charcoal (acid/base/acid) to get rid of any metal ions and other impurities, I got to wondering about Activated Charcoal and perhaps using it for Gas or Liquid purification instead of my usual Pyro uses for it.

 

I`ve done a alot of searching about it and haven`t really come up with anything conclusive, apparently my method (ABA) is fine for activating charcoal, but it mentions heating it also.

 

some say 110c some 300c some say 700c etc... for an hour.

 

so which is it?

 

is my method good enough that only good drying is needed, or do I need to do the steam or CO2 thing etc... as well?

It would seem the stuff would be well trapped in the pores. You wont be able to get all the stuff out for sure and eventually you would need to replace it.

replacing it isn`t the problem, making it in the 1`st place Is presenting some issues though.

 

basicly the charcoal was broken down into roughly 2 to 3mm pieces, and then soaked in hot HCl, there were bubbles formed (probably from reacting carbonates being made soluble chlorides). and then washed in pure water.

 

hot conc NaOH soln was then added to the charcoal and allowed to work for 10 hours, this made the clear soln into a dark brown (dissolved resin and other hydrocarbons), again this was washed several times in clean water, and the HCL process was repeated again.

 

after much washing an boiling with fresh water later, the charcoal was allowed to dry at 150c for 4 hours.

there`s still a slight smell of HCl gas.

 

so do I need to heat it for longer at the same temp, OR heat it at a Higher temp?

and what stops it catching fire?

aha from what I've read (a few years back) you can boil it then heat it like you say but I'm not sure on any numbers at all. lol.

But I've got a shed load of it, from my home made air filter.

If you find a fish shop (pet fish, not dinner) they sell it for filters. There is an online Co that sell it very cheep but for small amount wilkos sells it.

I'll try and find my link tonight about cleaning A, carcoal and let you know.