What is a Carbon Water Filter?

Activated carbon water purifier is a device that uses activated carbon as the main filtering material and is installed in tap water pipes to filter municipal tap water to obtain healthy and safe drinking water. Activated carbon is a very good adsorption material. It uses charcoal, bamboo charcoal, various nut shells, and high-quality coal as raw materials. It uses physical and chemical methods to crush, screen, activate catalyst, rinse, dry, and screen raw materials. Manufactured by a series of processes, it has the dual characteristics of physical adsorption and chemical adsorption, and can selectively adsorb various substances in tap water to achieve decolorization, deodorization, and removal of chemical pollution and volatile organic compounds.

Activated carbon water purifier

Activated carbon water purifier is a device that uses activated carbon as the main filtering material and is installed in tap water pipes to filter municipal tap water to obtain healthy and safe drinking water. Activated carbon is a very good adsorption material. It uses charcoal, bamboo charcoal, various nut shells, and high-quality coal as raw materials. It uses physical and chemical methods to crush, screen, activate catalyst, rinse, dry, and screen raw materials. Manufactured by a series of processes, it has the dual characteristics of physical adsorption and chemical adsorption, and can selectively adsorb various substances in tap water to achieve decolorization, deodorization, and removal of chemical pollution and volatile organic compounds. A common standard or specification for activated carbon water purifiers is the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China (MOH) "Code for Hygienic Safety and Functional Evaluation of Drinking Water Quality Processors" ^[1]

Activated carbon water purifiers can be divided into three categories according to the state of use of activated carbon: felt-type activated carbon water purifiers, granular activated carbon water purifiers, and composite sintered activated carbon rod water purifiers.

Activated carbon water purifier felt activated carbon

Structure: Felt activated carbon water purifier is usually made of non-woven fabric with activated carbon powder attached.

Features: Because the amount of activated carbon is relatively small, the total water purification and flow rate of such products are relatively small, and the filtration efficiency is relatively low; and the filtration area of the water purifier is relatively low, and the product's ability to contain particulate pollutants is also relatively Weak, short life. However, due to the relatively low cost of felt-type activated carbon, this type of water purifier is usually used in places where filtering requirements are not high.

Activated carbon water purifier granular activated carbon

Structure: The main medium of granular activated carbon water purifier is activated carbon particles. Activated carbon is usually placed in a plastic casing. In order to prevent leakage of fine particles, other filter materials with higher filtration accuracy are generally placed at the inlet and outlet of the filter element to intercept it.

Features: Compared with other activated carbon water purifiers, due to the loose distribution of activated carbon particles, the pressure loss of this product is relatively small, and the flow of purified water is relatively large. In addition, due to the relatively large amount of activated carbon used, the total water purification The filtration efficiency is also higher than that of felt-type activated carbon water purifiers. It is usually used in simple applications such as improving the taste, or used as a pre-filtration to remove residual chlorine and protect downstream easy-to-oxidize filtration media such as reverse osmosis membranes.

Activated carbon water purifier composite sintered activated carbon

Structure: The main filter medium of the composite sintered activated carbon rod water purifier is an activated carbon rod. Activated carbon rods are usually fired at high temperatures from activated carbon powders and bonding materials of different particle sizes.

Features: Due to the porous structure of activated carbon powder (according to estimates, the specific surface area of 3 to 5 grams of activated carbon powder is equivalent to the size of a standard American football field), the activated carbon rods after firing are very dense, and they are not odorous to the tap water , Residual chlorine and volatile organic compounds and other pollutants have a high removal efficiency, high-quality activated carbon rods produced by some manufacturers can even filter spore cysts according to the NSF53 standard, without using additional filtration media such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration.

However, the firing process of activated carbon rods is very critical. If improperly controlled, it can easily cause the bonding material to cover the porous structure of activated carbon powder, which will reduce the function of activated carbon. In addition, since activated carbon does not have the ability to remove hardness and heavy metals

For other indicators, during the firing process of activated carbon rods, filter media such as ion exchange resin can be added through a special process to make the activated carbon rods more functional.

Due to the excellent performance of the composite sintered activated carbon rod, this type of product can be directly used in places with high filtration requirements such as drinking and cooking, and can also be used as the final stage of water purification devices such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to improve the filtration effect.