All you have water filter technicians visiting your house several times a year, and you must have seen him changing the RO and other kinds of filters present in the water purifier installed.

You must have noticed one filter in the air purifier or air conditions where it comes with several holes in it with black colored net or filter.

This is actually called the “Activated Carbon Filter” which helps in the removal of the bad odor and making it resistant to diseases, healthy to drink and making water more full of taste.

Activated Carbon Filter - Working & Usage in Air Purifiers and Air Conditioners

We have written this article on what is Activated Carbon Filter - Working & Usage in Air Purifiers and Air Conditioners.

This same filter can be seen in the water purifiers which helps in the removal of the bad taste present and making odour free, thus safe for drinking.

As a matter of fact, this filter “Activated Carbon Filter” is the main tool that helps in the cleaning of the water in RO systems and the same goes for the air purifiers and air conditions with purifiers in it.

What is an Activated Carbon Filter?

Activated carbon filters are the small pieces of carbon, that we see usually in the particulate or powdered black form, that can be treated as extremely porous.

As a matter of fact, they are small to the point that even as low as 1 gram of activated charcoal can cover 500 meters squared area of area, which can help you to figure out that how porous this carbon filter particles are.

Because of this high surface area they are able to cover, they can absorb a lots of impurities from the surrounding.

Biologically, when some impurities pass throught the surface, then it chemically reacts with them and it gets attached to these impurities.

This change in the impurity level is not easily recognized by our naked senses, but tools have proved that the activated carbon filter is a successful and efficient tool for the same.

What is activated Carbon Filters made of?

The activated carbon filters as the name suggest are made of the activated carbon particles or the carbon in particulate form or are seen in the form of granules, thus they are extremely porous.

It is, of course, said, that more the porous the carbon is, the more and more effective in the filtering capacity. More the surface area there is present in the carbon (activated), the more efficient it is in the absorption of the impurities and the air-borne disease initiators.

Working of Activated Carbon Filter

The activated carbon filter comes with a bed of carbon which is activated or particulate in nature and ensures to remove the impurities and harmful contaminants from the air or the water that passes by through it.

Chemically or specifically, the absorption process of the same starts when the volatile organic component passes through this layer, whereby they stick to this filter.

Reaction with oxygen is known to open the pores of the filters and helps to absorb most of the responsible contaminants and bad odor from the air.

The activated filters are known to remove the following hazardous impurities from the environment

Volatile Organic Compounds
Chlorine
Sediments
Herbicides and Pesticides
Odour
Disease Bound Viruses

There are also some of the other filters that work better than these carbon filters, thus they can be used to filter the physical particles as well. FIlters like the HEPA FIlter and PM 2.5 Filters are even capable to attract the physical filters thereby making the air more fit for breathing as well.

Activated Carbon filters not individually used much, but it is known to supplement other filters by acting upon the volatile compounds present in the air and allowing to pass through as well.

Activated carbon the activated charcoal is used to filter the water too where it is forced to pass through the activated carbon and making it cleaner, odor-free and safe for drinking.

Advantages Of Activated Carbon Filters

There are many advantages of the activated carbon filters. They are much more than removing or absorbing the deadly or foreign particles from the surrounding air or water that passes by, but they are seen to be easy to formulate and are less costly in our pockets.

So here I’ve listed some of the advantages of the activated carbon filters

They’re able to filter the VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) and some other harmful gases present.
Quite Effective in the removal of chlorine from the water.
This can be referred to as the best filter for tasting water
It is relatively low priced, portable and lightweight technology is helpful to maintain the mobility of the same.
It can remove the pesticides from water and can remove the deadly pollutants present like carbon monoxide, ozone, and ethylene dioxide in the air.

Disadvantages Of Activated Carbon Filter

Activated carbon filter is not a perfect filtering parameter, but know that it can be referred to as one of the most prominent filtering technology used. Despite having so many advantages of activated carbon filters - they do come with some of the cons or disadvantages as well.

So, I’m listing some of the disadvantages of activated carbon filter

We know that carbon filters work by attracting some allergens and chemicals, but there are some of the pollutants which don’t get attracted to the same, thus chemicals like nitrates, sodium, and fluorides.
There may be a need to using the activated carbon filter with combination to other filters as well - which can help you to attract some of the bacterias which are otherwise not attracted to them.
They don’t have much of filtering life span because of the fact that it loses its capabilities to the point where the pores of activated carbon get filled with the contaminants, thus they rapid replacement.

Are all activated carbon filters the same?

The activated carbon filters remove significantly a large amount of the contaminant or air pollutants present in the atmospheric air that passes through the same. They’re much better than any carbon filter because they have much more surface area for absorption.

The more the carbon is activated, the more it has filtering capabilities and it will be easier for the filter to be the same.

We know that the filtering capacity of an activated carbon filter is dependent on how fine the particles of carbon are; thus finer the particles the more is the life of the filter, thus needing lesser replacements and keeping the air clean for more.
As a matter of fact, the smaller the particle of activated carbon in the filter, the more it is easier for the filter to absorb the impurities because the surface area is directly proportional to the extent of absorption.

Some of the activated carbon filters also come mixed with certain other chemicals as well, such as magnesium monoxide and copper oxide which can help to remove pollutants from single carbon filters that cannot absorb or attract.

What is benefit of activated carbon filters in our homes?

We all know how useful the activated carbon is, but then the question arises that can we personally bring it into use for ourselves, or it can be used only with air purifiers and water purifiers.

The answer is - YES, we can all use the activated carbon filter in our houses to get rid of the harmful pollutant present that can be a hazard to our health.

In the air purification systems, the activated carbon filter is used with a combination in HEPA Filters which is even capable of trapping allergens and impurities:

Dust
Mold Spores
Odour
Bacterias and Viruses
Benzene
VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds)
Lint

As a matter of fact, the carbon filter when used in combination with HEPA filter is capable of removing or absorbing most of the airborne diseased, and 99.6% of the physical particles levitating in the air as well which limits to as low as 0.3 microns in diameter.

To people with health-related problems such as allergy and asthma kind of problem when they come in contact with harsh air, therefore to help themselves in such a situation, they can help themselves with this carbon activated filter at their places.

The activated carbon filter is not just cleaning the air you breathe in your home or office, but eventually, its effect can be seen on your respiratory health as well, where our body starts cleaning itself making humans more and more healthy.

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