Activated carbon is an amorphous form of graphite with a highly developed internal pore structure that gives the material its’ unique adsorptive properties.
There are a wide variety of activated carbons, each exhibiting their own adsorptive characteristics, dependant upon the raw material used and the process technique adopted. These characteristics determine which applications the activated carbon is most suited to.
PT. Freeman produces activated carbons from coconut shell, utilizing the steam activation technology in rotary kilns. The use of coconut shell facilitates the manufacture of products with very high adsorptive capacities, coupled with a natural hardness that renders the carbon highly resistant to physical breakdown through attrition.
Vapor Phase Activated Carbon
As concern grows over the protection of the environment, with governments and authorities throughout the world imposing stricter controls on emissions from factories and processes, so the use of activated carbon continues to play a major role in controlling these emissions.
Throughout industry, where chemicals are used in manufacturing processes, the resultant emissions from these processes, with entrained chemical vapor, can cause serious environmental and social problems.
Apart from the need to clean up these emissions, there is often financial advantage to be gained such as in solvent recovery plants. Here, expensive solvents can be recovered whilst, at the same time, process emissions are stripped of unwanted chemical vapors.
Diagram Process and Graph
Liquid Phase Activated Carbon
Throughout the world there is a growing awareness of the need to protect rivers, streams, and other groundwater sources, from contamination by entrained chemicals in process effluent.
Here again, activated carbon plays a major role in cleaning up process effluents prior to their discharge into drains or rivers.
Activated carbon is also the most predominantly used media for final treatment of potable water. Initial treatment is carried out by chemical sterilisation, to remove bacteria and neutralise the pH of the water. Activated carbon is then used to remove unwanted odour, taste, and cloudiness or discoloration.
Diagram Process and Graph
Gold Recovery Activated Carbon
For many years now, activated carbon has been used in CIP, CIC, and CIL
processes for the recovery of gold, and other precious metals.
In such
processes, the hardness, and abrasion resistance of the carbon is essential
to avoid gold losses through breakdown of the carbon within the circuit.
Due to this, coconut shell based carbon is predominantly used in this type of process. The natural hardness of the raw material, coupled with specially developed manufacturing techniques, facilitate an end product ideally suited to this application.
Diagram Process
