Activated carbon is commonly used on the laboratory scale to purify solutions of organic molecules containing unwanted colored organic impurities. Garcia A.B.; Martinez-Alonso A.; Leon C. A.; Tascon J.M.D. (1998). "Modification of the surface properties of an activated carbon by oxygen plasma treatment". Fuel. 77 (1): 613–624. doi: 10.1016/S0016-2361(97)00111-7. Charcoal has an astoundingly porous surface where the billions of carbon atoms are separated by millions of pores. It has a large surface area that allows it to catch and store impurities easily through adsorption. When charcoal is activated, as mentioned, the number of pores magnify, and the ability to purify water is even better.

Environmental [ edit ] Activated carbon is usually used in water filtration systems. In this illustration, the activated carbon is in the fourth level (counted from bottom). Volatile organic compounds capture from painting, dry cleaning, gasoline dispensing operations, and other processes Molasses number or molasses efficiency is a measure of the mesopore content of the activated carbon (greater than 20 Å, or larger than 2 nm) by adsorption of molasses from solution. Activated carbon filters remove significantly higher concentrations of pollutants than regular carbon, but some of them have some slight differences. Some filters contain more or less activated carbon than others, which can impact their filtering capacity, the speed at which they absorb, etc. Besides, high levels of activated carbon extend the lifespan of a filter. Consequently, it will require fewer replacements and keep producing filtered water for longer. Types of activated carbon filters Activated carbon filters treat water by using a process called adsorption. As the water passes through the activated carbon, the carbon acts like a sponge with a large surface area and absorbs the contaminants in the water. Simply, the activated carbon exerts a magnetic-like pull on the specific impurities and attracts and traps them in the pores of its surface area.a b Nwankwo, I. H. (2018). "Production And Characterization Of Activated Carbon From Animal Bone" (PDF). American Journal of Engineering Research (AJER). 7 (7): 335–341.

Carbon filters are common amongst many water filters that can be added to your water tap, or they are also found in filtering water pitchers. Also, some showerheads contain similar water filters for safer showering water. You will find that many of your favorite water filtering systems actually utilize charcoal filters for quality impurity removal. Changing Out Your Water Filter Harmful chlorine byproducts, including THMs, VOCs, haloacetic acids, and others, can form when chlorine used to treat water reacts with the naturally present compounds in the water. Long-term exposure to some of these toxic byproducts has been linked to an increased risk of cancer, infant birth delivery problems, and other unwanted diseases and ailments. Activated carbon filtration is possibly the most effective technique used to eliminate chlorine byproducts from water. The EPA states that the technology removes the 32 most known chlorine byproducts, including the most common byproduct recorded in tap water reports: total THMs (TTHMs). · Chloride Sano H.; Ogawa H. (1975). "Preparation and application nitrogen containing active carbons". Osaka Kogyo Gijutsu Shirenjo. 26 (5): 2084–2086.Cherbański R (2018). "Regeneration of granular activated carbon loaded with toluene – Comparison of microwave and conductive heating at the same active powers". Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification. 123 (January 2018): 148–157. doi: 10.1016/j.cep.2017.11.008.

The catalytic activated coconut shell carbon used in our whole-house systems is manufactured from high-quality coconut shells. This form of activated carbon significantly enhances the ability for superior efficiency when removing contaminants, and rapid decomposition of chlorine, chloramines, and chlorine byproducts. IBM Micromedex (1 February 2019). "Charcoal, Activated (Oral Route)". Mayo Clinic . Retrieved 15 February 2019.

As for chlorine and other chemicals that do not adhere to carbon, activated carbon filters use a chemical reaction to eliminate such pollutants. Activated catalytic carbon, which is more reactive than regular carbon, chemically alters the chlorine molecules, converting them into a chloride. Are all activated carbon filters the same? Residual organic gasification by a non-oxidising gas (steam or carbon dioxide) at elevated temperatures (800°C (1,470°F)) TSA (thermal swing adsorption) and/or PSA ( pressure swing adsorption) processes: through convection (heat transfer) using steam, [80] "hot" inert gas (typically heated nitrogen (150–250°C (302–482°F))), [81] or vacuum (T+VSA or TVSA, combining TSA and VSA processes) [82] in situ regeneration