Activated Carbon for Drinking Water Purification

Everyone needs to consume a large amount of water in daily life. Have you ever thought about it? Is the water you drink every day safe?

The quality of drinking water is closely related to everyone’s health. Therefore, we cannot ignore the quality of drinking water.

This article will discuss the drinking water standards that meet human health, the types of activated carbon suitable for drinking water purification, and the differences in the use of different types of activated carbon in drinking water purification.

What is Healthy Drinking Water?

The WHO has issued relevant documents on the quality of drinking water, explaining indicators such as microorganisms, chemicals, and trace elements in drinking water. These standards are designed to ensure the safety of drinking water for the human body and reduce potential health hazards.

So, how harmful is drinking water pollution to health?

Some research results indicate that consuming unclean drinking water may cause organ damage or physical pain, and in severe cases, it may induce cancer or tumors. Therefore, activated carbon, as a porous adsorption medium, is the best choice for drinking water purification.

Activated Carbon For Drinking Water Treatment

According to EPA, Activated carbon is a porous adsorption media with a large surface area and numerous pores, giving it strong adsorption capabilities to capture compounds in gases or liquids.

The pore size ranges from 1.5nm to 5um, with micropores smaller than 2nm, macropores larger than 50nm, and mesopores between 2-50nm. It is the developed pore structure that makes activated carbon’s adsorption performance excellent.

Activated carbon has a huge surface area, making it an effective adsorbent to remove pollutants and other substances. Imagine how large the surface area is—just 5 grams of activated carbon can have an equivalent surface area to 70,000 square feet of a football field!

This, along with other amazing properties, makes activated carbon a good medium for adsorbing and removing impurities from water.

In drinking water purification, activated carbon can adsorb various pollutants, including:

• Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)

• Chlorine

• Chlorides

• Trichloroethylene

• Tetrachloroethylene

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

• Pesticides

• Oxalic acid

• Thiols

  
  

Now, you may wonder which types of activated carbon are most suitable for drinking water purification. In the following content, you will find the answers.

Types of Activated Carbon for Drinking Water Purification

Different raw materials and manufacturing processes produce final products with different characteristics. Different types of activated carbon also exhibit significant differences in drinking water purification.

In the table below, you can discover the differences between these two types of activated carbon.