January 2020 - micbacindia

Multi-Functional Characteristics Of Activated Carbon

January 20, 2020January 22, 2020 micbacindia-admin

Activated carbon, which is a powerful and reliable adsorbent, is ideal to use in diverse states of applications. It is used in potable water, wastewater, as well as in leachate treatments to polish the color, get rid of the smell and in some weighty metals. It is inexpensive and abundantly available and it can be created from agricultural waste materials, such as rice husk, coconut shell, and palm oil shell. The fine, porous structure as well as an extremely large particle surface area of activated carbon results in making it possess commanding adsorptive characteristics. Thus, the adsorption process using activated carbon is found to be a potentially feasible method of removing contaminants from aqueous solutions.

The powerful, as well as the economical feature of activated carbon, makes it useful in many other applications, including:

Storage of hydrogen and methane
Air decontamination
Solvent revival
Decaffeination
Metal extraction
Gold purification,
Water cleansing
Medicine
Air filters in gas masks and respirators
Sewage treatment
Filters in compressed air
Manufacture of hydrogen chloride in dark
Teeth whitening

Industrial applications

Activated carbon is used in industrial applications, as well. The major one involves the use in metal finishing for decontamination of electroplating solutions. Various organic chemicals are incorporated into plating solutions to improve their set down qualities as well as to enhance properties, such as smoothness, brightness, ductility, etc. Activated carbon treatment eliminates impurities and reinstates plating performance to the preferred level.

Medical applications

Activated carbon plays a vital role in medical applications. In the medical industry, it is used to treat overdoses and poisonings following oral ingestion. It is used in the capsule or tablet form as an over-the-counter medicine to treat indigestion, diarrhea, and flatulence effectively. Activated carbon is on the List of Essential Medicines of the World Health Organization, as it is considered one of the safest as well as the most effective medicines required in a health system.

Environmental uses

Carbon adsorption has many applications in eliminating contaminants from water streams or air as well as in manufacturing processes such as:

Groundwater remediation
Spill cleaning
Air purification
Potable water filtration

Activated carbon is capable of capturing volatile organic substances from paintings, gasoline supply operations, dry cleaning, as well as in other environmental processes. Furthermore, the use of activated carbon makes it possible to recover volatile untreated compounds from flexible packaging, adapting, coating, and other processes.

When Safe Drinking Water Act was implemented in 1974 in the United States, the country’s Environmental Protection Agency officials developed a statute. According to the rule, all drinking water treatment systems are supposed to use granular activated carbon. Due to its soaring price, the supposed GAC regulation encountered strong conflict across the country from the water supply industry. Therefore, the Environmental Protection Agency set the rule aside. Thus, filtration through activated carbon continued to be the most effective water treatment technique because of its multi-useful nature. There are precise kinds of activated carbon filtration techniques and tools, which are indicated, according to the contaminants concerned. Activated carbon is used to measure radon concentration in air, as well.

Coconut Shell-based Activated Carbon –Its Role in Today’s World

January 14, 2020January 16, 2020 micbacindia-admin

Do you know how important is activated carbon in our daily life? Well, many of us don’t have any idea about this. Activated carbon plays a significant role in today’s life. The water you drink is purified with the help of this carbon, the air you breathe in is also scrubbed clean with this, the food you eat is also purified from activated charcoal, the clothes you wear is made with it, you can heal illness with it and people also go to war with activated charcoal.

Activated carbon is extensively used for diverse military, scientific and industrial purposes –

Oil refining
Bleaching of oil
Water purification
Solvent recovery
Gold and other metal recovery
Prime ingredient in filters and gas masks that removes biochemical or toxic gases

Thus, it is clear that activated carbon is a widely used element across the world today. It has extensive use in water purification because its huge surface area and high porosity make it an effective absorbent material. Natural substances that constitute the base material of activated carbon are – coconut shell, wood, peat, anthracite and bituminous coal and lignite.

Multiple Uses of Coconut-shell Based Activated Carbon

Majority of micro pores of coconut shell activated charcoal is very small and hence, they are efficient in trapping organic chemical substances like organic volatile compounds, herbicides, pesticides and tri-halo methane present in drinking water.

Due these micro pores, this carbon has tight structure and great mechanical strength thereby providing it with high resistance against any kind of wear and tear resulting out of friction. All these properties make coconut shell activated carbon best suitable filters for chemical and industrial works.

At the time of small scale as well as large scale water purification, coconut shell-based activated charcoal also helps in removing impurities and halogens from water. This improves the taste, appearance and quality of water.

Finer variety of this carbon, called food grade charcoal has utility in varied medical purposes like removal of contaminated and poisonous substances from the digestive system of human beings. This directly helps in digestion of food. This finer variety of charcoal also plays a significant role in kidney and liver dialysis and blood purification.

You will be surprised to know that activated carbon also helps in moving mountains, exploring oceans’ depth and furthest point in this universe, makes sparkling nights and cleans up mistakes that human beings make due to advancement of science. Yet, it is still considered as the “least celebrated” ingredient in this world.

The Reasons Behind Uses Indian Coconut For Activated Carbon

January 8, 2020January 10, 2020 micbacindia-admin

The brown slightly oval and hairy from the outside and soft white flesh from the inside – this is the basic images everyone thinks about the coconut. Except for these images, coconut has many different characteristics, which are beyond the basic images. The characteristic of coconuts has different qualities; these are well suited in different fields. Not only India the uses of coconut in various ways can be seen throughout the world. As the coconut grows in a very dramatic way in its life, so it can be used for different purposes throughout its different stages.

CocosNucifera –

Coconuts have different types but there is one genre of coconut. CocosNucifera, the coconut tree is a member of the palm family. From the Spanish word ‘coco’ the name comes coconut. ‘Coco’ means “head”.

Layers Of Coconut –

Coconut has three layers. First, the exterior layer is called exocarp, the hard layer which protects the seed is called endocarp and the central fleshy layer is called mesocarp. As per the traditional coconut image, the endocarp and the fleshy layer, which have dissolved is only seen.

Throughout the coconut’s life, the exterior layer changes. In the maximum cases, coconuts start growing with a shiny smooth exterior. The colors in the primary stages are red, green or yellow sometimes. Then the color turns into brown as the coconut grows. The exterior color in the early stages used for various types of coconut labeling.

Dwarf And Tall Coconuts –

Generally, coconuts are divided into two groups, dwarf coconuts, and tall coconuts. Dwarf types are shorter than usual; it is stouter and also has smaller fruit. This type is perfect for gardening. The second one is the taller type, the height of coconut trees are nearly 50 feet. The tall trees produce larger fruits. Tall coconut trees create new types as they can cross-pollinate, so it spread widely. On the other hand, the dwarf coconut trees have less variety as it is self-pollinate.

On the other way coconut trees are categorized in two – domestic and commercial. Beyond the purpose the coconut trees are also classified as per the color and where it grows.

Indian Coconuts –

In India, tall coconut trees are mostly seen. The most prevalent types are the west coast tall and east coast tall. The shells of Indian coconuts are thicker than the other types. This thick shell coconut makes the Indian coconut an ideal type for activated carbon production. This is not perfect for high productivity; the thicker shells also produce harder and denser activated charcoal. This type of activated carbon has great durability. The blocks made with these kinds of activated carbon provide less wastage due to breakage.

Wide Variety – The coconut trees are classified by the tree size, fruit size, color and also the production location. Indian coconuts are the ideal material for activated carbon production. These are also used in other productions like food, body products, garden materials, and construction material. These versatile trees are the treasure of any nation.

What Is Activated Charcoal And Does The Future Holds For It?

January 2, 2020January 10, 2020 micbacindia-admin

Activated carbon or activated charcoal is one of the widely heard terms of recent days. The material finds itself in a wide array of industries ranging from large scale industrial filtration plants to the cosmetic industry. Now, one must wonder how does activated charcoal gets generated and how it is different from normal charcoal.

The activated charcoal is a porous form of carbon formed after going through oxygenation. The process to produce activated charcoal involves two steps the first step involves carbonization of raw materials and the second step involves activating the carbon using oxygen, or any other chemical reagent.

The Variety Of Activated Charcoal: The type of carbon in question can get classified into three types based on its look ranging from granular, powdered and others. Powdered carbon finds wide application in liquid filtration while granular finds application gas filtration. The activated charcoal finds its application, in a wide range of fields with the likes of Decaffeination, Pharmaceutical Products, Metal Finishing, Gold Recovery, Medical Products, to name a few.

The Change That Can Bring A Change To The Industry: In the last few years, the change in certain factors will further boost the popularity of the activated charcoal market. The project of supplying clean water to drink for every people in the country implemented by the government will significantly boost the demand for activated charcoal. When the pollution from the vehicle is at an all-time high, the use of activated charcoal proved to be an effective tool to control hydrocarbon emission.

The Growing Market Of The Charcoal Industry: The trend to lower the carbon footprint of every production plant, the use of reactivated charcoal will always find a steady market to further expand their demand. The demand for charcoal looks to remain on the high in both Asian and North American countries for the next few decades, as several countries are setting massive air purification filters and water filters for mass use across the country. The United States of America is the largest market in North America while the Asia Pacific region enjoys the largest market, when it comes to water purification. Several leading Corporation is tirelessly working to minimize the carbon footprint and reduce the damage the impact on the environment with the growing pollution and steep water scarcity. The activated carbon industry will boom in the coming days, and there is no stopping to that.