What is the difference between normal charcoal and activated Charcoal?

Question

I'm creating a water filter for experiment and is met with the problem. We wanted to use charcoal for one of the layers of the filter. And we are unsure what type of charcoal we should use, normal charcoal or activated charcoal.

What i really want to know is the difference between this two things when used in a water filter.Can both types of charcoals be used for a water filter?...Thanks

Answer 1

Activated charcoal is used in water filters, medicines that selectively remove toxins, and chemical purification processes. Activated charcoal is carbon that has been treated with oxygen. The treatment results in a highly porous charcoal. These tiny holes give the charcoal a surface area of 300-2,000 m2/g, allowing liquids or gases to pass through the charcoal and interact with the exposed carbon. The carbon adsorbs a wide range of impurities and contaminants, including chlorine, odors, and pigments. Other substances, like sodium, fluoride, and nitrates, are not as attracted to the carbon and are not filtered out. Because adsorption works by chemically binding the impurities to the carbon, the active sites in the charcoal eventually become filled.

Activated charcoal filters become less effective with use and have to be recharged or replaced.

Several factors influence the effectiveness of activated charcoal. The pore size and distribution varies depending on the source of the carbon and the manufacturing process. Large organic molecules are absorbed better than smaller ones. Adsorption tends to increase as pH and temperature decrease. Contaminants are also removed more effectively if they are in contact with the activated charcoal for a longer time, so flow rate through the charcoal affects filtration.

Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by heating wood, sugar, bone char, or others substances in the absence of oxygen (see char). The soft, brittle, lightweight, black, porous material resembles coal and is 85% to 98% carbon with the remainder consisting of volatile chemicals and ash.

The first part of the word is of obscure origin, but the first use of the term "coal" in English was as a reference to charcoal. In this compound term, the prefix "chare-" meant "turn", with the literal meaning being "to turn to coal". The independent use of "char", meaning to scorch, to reduce to carbon, is comparatively recent and is assumed to be a back-formation from the earlier charcoal. It may be a use of the word charren or churn, meaning to turn; i.e. wood changed or turned to coal, or it may be from the French charbon. A person who manufactured charcoal was formerly known as a collier (also as a wood collier). The word "collier" was also used for those who mined or dealt in coal, and for the ships that transported it.

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Answer 2

Activated charcoal is simply charcoal with a large surface area.  It can be produced either through pyrolysis of carbon containing materials in an oxygen free atmosphere, or by partial combustion of carbon containing materials with either air or oxygen.  Charcoal can also be activated by chemical treatment.

The high surface area of activated charcoal makes it a very effective adsorbant.  This is what makes it useful in filtration applications.