Water Carbon Filters

Carbon has a long history of being used for absorbing impurities. One pound of carbon has a surface area of about 125 acres and can literally absorb thousands of different chemicals. Activated carbon is carbon that has slight electro-positive charge added to it, making it more attractive to chemicals and impurities. As the water passes over the positively charged carbon surface, negative ions of the contaminants are drawn to the surface of carbon granules.

Activated water carbon filters used for home water treatment usually contain either granular activated carbon (GAC) or powdered block carbon. Although both are effective, carbon block filters mostly have a higher contaminant removal ratio. The two important factors affecting the efficiency of activated carbon filtration are – the amount of carbon in the unit and the amount of time the contaminant spends in contact with the carbon. More carbon and lower the flow rate of water, more time the contaminants will be in contact with the carbon, the more absorption will take place. Particle size also affects the removal rates. There are two principal mechanisms by which carbon filters remove contaminants from water; absorption, and catalytic reduction. While, organic compounds are removed by absorption, the residual disinfectants such as chlorine and chloramines can be removed by catalytic reduction.

Applications Of Carbon In Water Treatment

Activated carbon filtration is common in a number of home water treatment systems. It can be used as a standalone filter for reducing or eliminating bad tastes and odors, chlorine, and many organic contaminants in municipal (pre-treated or chlorinated) water supplies to produce significantly improved drinking water. Water carbon filtration is also very commonly used in pre-treatment as part of reverse osmosis system for reducing many organic contaminants, chlorine, and other items that could foul the reverse osmosis membrane. 0.5 micron water carbon filters are used for removing cysts such as giardia and cryptosporidium.

Arsenic water filter