Activated carbon

Uncommon card · No. 107507

Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon commonly used to filter contaminants from water and air, among many other uses. It is processed (activated) to have small, low-volume pores that greatly increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions. Adsorption, not to be confused with absorption, is a process where atoms or molecules adhere to a surface. Activated carbon is sometimes referred to as active carbon. Because it is so porous on a microscopic scale, activated carbon has a surface area of over 3,000 square metres per gram (920,000 square feet per ounce), as determined by gas absorption, and its porosity can run 10ML/day in terms of treated water per gram. Researchers at Cornell University synthesized an ultrahigh surface area activated carbon with a BET area of 4,800 m2/g (1,500,000 sq ft/oz). This BET area value is the highest reported in the literature for activated carbon. For charcoal, the equivalent figure before activation...

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