Activated Carbon and Activated Charcoal Blog

Pharma industry to drive activated carbon growth, By Kirsty Barnes

noreply@blogger.com (Aubrey Schaeffer) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:55:00 +0000

The global demand for virgin activated carbon is tipped to rise five per cent per year to reach 1.2m metric tons by 2010, fuelled by increased use in the pharmaceutical sector.
Activated carbon, or charcoal, is used in pharmaceutical industry primarily as an adsorbent to remove pollutants during the drug manufacturing process.
The Asia/Pacific region presents the greatest opportunity for growth, where this market is expected to nearly double by 2010, led by China, which is expected to increase its share of the global activated carbon market to 13 per cent, according to a report by market research firm The Freedonia Group.
Smaller emerging markets, including Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Africa/Middle East region, will also record above average gains.
"In these developing markets, gains will be driven in all sectors by increasing economic growth and industrial output," said the report, titled 'World Activated Carbon.'
"Growing environmental concerns in these regions will also spur new growth in applications such as water treatment, flue gas treatment and hazardous waste remediation," said the report.
While growth rates in the most mature carbon markets of North America, Western Europe and Japan are expected to slow down, they will still continue to account for over half of carbon demand and in these markets in particular, activated carbon use in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors offers the strongest growth prospects.
Meanwhile, granular activated and specialty grade carbon products are poised to erode the current dominance of powdered activated carbon in the market.
"Many of the market niches that show the most promise - such as catalysts, gas separation and storage, and air pollution control - tend to prefer granular or specialty grades," said the report.
Furthermore, the advantage of granular material lies in its ability to be regenerated - this will allow it to gradually penetrate the water treatment and sugar processing markets, currently the largest consumers of powdered carbon.

Carbon Resources - New Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Aubrey Schaeffer) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:00:00 +0000

At its first exhibition, the newly designed tradeshow booth for Carbon Resources won the “IMPACT” award for its originality and effectiveness of design at the CA/NV American Water Works Association conference and exhibition held in Las Vegas. This booth will be displayed at next months AWWA conference in Seattle.

In November we will be exhibiting at the Water Quality Technology Conference and Exposition in Seattle from November 15th-19th. Robert Potwora, Technical Director, will be attending his first meeting as a voting member on the AWWA Standards Committee on Activated Carbon.

Carbon Resources employees are volunteering at the 7th Annual Beer Festival held at GreenFlash Brewery, Vista, CA to benefit the Fight ALD charity on November 14th. Fight ALD was started by Janis Sherwood who lost her 8-year old son to this disease in September of 2003. ALD stands for adrenoleukodystrophy and was popularized by the 1992 movie “Lorenzo’s Oil”. This deadly disease leaves the body unable to breakdown big fat molecules which eventually build up and clog nerve cells associated with the brain and spinal cord. Sonia Hollingsworth, Aubrey Schaeffer and Ann Harding will be the dedicated volunteers at this function.

In October, Kimberly Walsh volunteered at the “Brittany’s Blessings” event sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Fountain Valley, CA. This event takes about 30 children who were picked for economical needs through various organizations such as Boys and Girls Club and are taken to Wal-Mart to spend $125 each on school clothes twice a year. The day is dedicated to the memory of Brittany Daniels who is the daughter of Rita Daniels who passed away at age four by a rare aggressive form of strep.

CA/NV AWWA

noreply@blogger.com (Aubrey Schaeffer) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:03:00 +0000

For the first time, Carbon Resources will be exhibiting at the CA/NV American Water Works Association Tradeshow held at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas from October 5th to October 8th. We will also be exhibiting at the Pacific Water Quality Association conference in Palm Springs, CA on October 13-16th. Ken Schaeffer will be giving a presentation titled "Comparison of Coal versus Coconut shell carbon for the POU/POE Water Treatment Industry". This will be of particular interest due to recent arsenic issues with Prop 65.

In addition, the ASTM D-28 committee that governs activated carbon manufacturing protocols will be meeting in Atlanta on October 21st and Robert Potwora who is Vice-Chairman of this committee will be attending. Robert will also be attending the 24th Annual International Activated Carbon Conference in Pittsburg, PA from October 6th through October 8th.

Powdered activated carbon (PAC)

noreply@blogger.com (Aubrey Schaeffer) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Traditionally, active carbons are made in particular form as powders or fine granules less than 1.0 mm in size with an average diameter between .15 and .25 mm. Thus they present a large surface to volume ratio with a small diffusion distance. PAC is made up of crushed or ground carbon particles, 95–100% of which will pass through a designated mesh sieve or sieve. Granular activated carbon is defined as the activated carbon being retained on a 50-mesh sieve (0.297 mm) and PAC material as finer material, while ASTM classifies particle sizes corresponding to an 80-mesh sieve (0.177 mm) and smaller as PAC. PAC is not commonly used in a dedicated vessel, owing to the high headloss that would occur. PAC is generally added directly to other process units, such as raw water intakes, rapid mix basins, clarifiers, and gravity filters.

Carbon Resources in more publications!

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Harding) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:27:00 +0000

In June 2009, Robert Potwora published an article titled “Chlorine and Chloramine Removal with Activated Carbon”. In this article, Robert discusses how chlorine and chloramine are formed, their reactions and the factors necessary to treat each compound using different types of activated carbon. There is also test data presented on Spartan series® (surface-enhanced activated carbon), which more readily removes chloramines.

Click to see full article

Carbon Resources in print this month! Check it out.

noreply@blogger.com (Katie Jenkins) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:32:00 +0000

This month Carbon Resources has two articles and a mention in print.

Check out Bob's informative article on activated carbon block filters here.

Kim's article on removing bacteria using activated carbon is in the newest issue of Water Quality Products - Link to follow.

Also, there's a brief column on Kim's being named to the board of Rehostar, an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and education. Please check it out here!

Another activated carbon use

noreply@blogger.com (Katie Jenkins) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:01:00 +0000

My husband and I have been looking at the new foam beds and one of my concerns has been the odor/fumes that are emitted by them.

I knew we could use activated filters to elimate odor placed under the bed, but odors rise. One of the solutions that I found online is activated carbon fiber made into blankets and mattress pads. This would eliminate the odors in an easy-to-use way.

With the advancements with carbon into antibacterial impregnated carbon as well, I can't imagine that we are very far away from a mattress pad that will protect us from odors, bacteria and fungi.

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Walsh) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:06:00 +0000

I am always amazed at how many things activated carbon is really used in. Currently, there are over 3500 different applications that use activated carbon. Just today I spoke to a gentlemen who sparked my interest because he is involved in missionary work, one of my second loves, and more specifically medical missionary work. He explained to me that they provide cans of activated carbon that are mixed with flaxseed oil and spread on wounds to prevent infection and advance the healing process. He also told me about a young adult who was bit by a snake and they used the activated carbon/flaxseed oil mixture prior to getting the person to the hospital. The doctors were pleasantly surprised to see that the mixture dramatically reduced the puss and helped with preventing some of the poisons to penetrate into the body.

I knew activated carbon had been used in emergency rooms for people who have swallowed hazardous household chemicals or other poisonous items. The technicians take a fine activated carbon powder and mix it with water for the patient to drink. The activated carbon because of it's tremendous surface area, adsorbs the chemicals and removes them from the body.

I call activated carbon a "good" chemical in a sense for it removes a lot of "bad" chemicals found in our air and water. Knowing that it is also used to help save lives makes me even more elated to be working with this amazing product.

Activated Carbon

noreply@blogger.com (Aubrey Schaeffer) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Activated Carbon is a specially treated carbon that has been exposed to heat around 800-900 degrees Celsius. The great thing about activated carbon is that it has a large internal surface area and can trap a lot of impurities inside it.

Carbon Resources starts its activated carbon and activated charcoal blog.

noreply@blogger.com (Katie Jenkins) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Carbon Resources starts its activated carbon and activated charcoal blog for 2009. We hope to present new and interesting information throughout the year in this format on a variety of topics from the basics for activated carbon uses to advanced processes in filtration systems and how it might helps all of us. We welcome your questions and comments as we make this foray into the world of blogs.