Activated Carbon

Adsorbent with Gigantic Interior Surface Area

Activated carbon (also called activated carbon or active carbon) is an extremely porous form of carbon. The gigantic interior surface area of the particles makes it an ideal adsorbent for many applications from water purification to the chemical industry. The interior surface area of activated carbon is several thousand times larger than the outer surface of the particles, as such; the surface area equivalent of a soccer field can be contained in just four grams of material.

Production of Activated Carbon by IBU-tec

The raw materials for activated carbon are derived from plant biomass, petrochemicals or coal. To start, the materials are converted to a raw activated carbon by the use of dehydrogenation agents or dry distillation. This is then fully activated by partial oxidation using a special activation reagent at 700 to 1000 °C. The resulting activated carbon can then be impregnated with chemicals that improve its performance, e.g. so that it captures pollutants or contaminants even more effectively.

At IBU-tec, we produce activated carbon from both organic and synthetic sources by steam activation in rotary kilns. We can leverage your project, having built a substantial knowledge base over the course of numerous projects both in production and development.

A good example being a project to expand the applications of activated carbon as a filter medium, where we developed bead-shaped activated carbon with a variety of special surface treatments. Easy handling and filtering were the most important goals: conventional powdery material does not meet these criteria well, so we developed a special form of activated carbon as spherical beads. The beads have an enormous interior surface area and are completely dust-free, maintaining high mechanical strength. This results in outstanding performance as a gas filter, with equally excellent handling characteristics and profitability.

If you want to produce or develop activated carbon for challenging or highly specialized applications, we will be happy to advise you.