Activated carbon filters

Application fields

They can be applied in chemical and manufacturing sector (for ex.: painting industries, degreasing mechanical industry, rubber industries), where it is necessary to treat the emissions of solvents from chemical processes going into the air.

Design, manufacture and installation of activated carbon filters

The filtration with activated carbon is based on air purification technology that removes pollutants from a flow of gas (or air) by passing it through a filter to "activated carbon". This process takes place thanks to the capacity of activated carbon "adsorb" (that is, retain) the majority of the polluting substances, which are usually organic.

These organic pollutants, then, can be further extracted using a "gas" which is usually steam or nitrogen.

The activated charcoal filter is comprised predominantly of carbon of vegetable or mineral origin, it is characterized by high porosity and can be found both in powder and in granular material.

Principles of operation of the activated carbon filter

The principles of operations is based on a physical phenomenon: the molecules of the adsorbed substances are retained within the pores of the coal by weak Van der Waals forces, while the colloidal particles, are deposited on the surface of the coal itself.

The air flow containing the pollutants, is then extracted from one or more blowers. A filter protects the coal and a "conditioner" that optimizes moisture and temperature.

The coal is usually installed into two filters, one of which works in an active way and retains the pollutants (and already allows to eject clean air from the chimney). The other method  is the regeneration phase immersed in a flow of steam and nitrogen.

Finally the adsorbed particles are condensed and recovered in a special section, which can be equipped with distillery which separates various components.

This cycle can not last forever, because at a certain point the charcoal becomes hexausted and must be physically extracted from the filters and then be disposed in landfills.