Wood carbon is non-toxic, tasteless, fine black powder. It is created from selected quality wood. Most of the pores in wood carbon are meso or macro pores. Wood carbon is known for its large surface area, along with its highly strong absorption property. Due to such unique qualities, wood carbon is an ideal product for many industries.
In this article, we provide an insight into how wood carbon is produced. Along with this, we discuss some of the unique qualities and usage of wood carbon.
How is Wood Carbon Produced?
Wood activated carbon is a type of activated carbon. Broadly speaking, activated carbon can be produced in many ways. Some of the common raw materials include coconut, coal, and wood.
Wood carbon is usually created from sawdust. There are two primary steps involved in the production of wood carbon:
1. Chemical Activation: This involves chemical degradation or dehydration of the raw materials. This is done at a high temperature. This step carbonizes the raw material.
2. Thermal Process: The chemical activation is followed by certain thermal processes. One of the commonly used methods is steam activation. This activates the carbonization and oxidization that has already taken place.
Wood Carbon: Products and Industries
Wood carbon has a high absorption rate, fast filtration speed, and effective pore distribution. Due to this, there are many different usages of wood carbon. Here are some of the most common ones:
1. Decolorization: Wood carbon is commonly used for the decolorization of various food items. This includes different fruit juices, beverages, and edible oils. Apart from this, wood carbon is also used for the decolorization of pharmaceutical products.
2. Water Purification: One of the most common uses of wood carbon is purification. This ranges from air and gas to water purification. This includes ground water purification, portable water purification cans, etc.
3. Air Purification: Wood activated carbon filters are widely used for air purification. This is used motorcycle carbon cans, at home air purifiers, organic waste gas treatment, etc.
4. Recycling: Another important use of wood carbon is the recycling of organic solvents. This includes acetone in the cellulose acetate industry, carbon disulfide for the production of Viscose Staple Fiber, etc.
5. Deodorizing: Wood-based carbon is also used for deodorizing within the food and beverage industries. The activated carbon filters are used for ventilation in cold storage. This prevents contamination between different product odors.
Conclusion
The process of manufacturing wood carbon is unique. It requires sophisticated technologies that can turn ordinary wood in the form of sawdust or wood chips into activated carbon. Due to such a process, the resulting activated carbon has a highly developed pore structure and surface area.
Wood carbon also has a remarkable capacity for absorption. This provides wood activated carbon with a lot of interesting qualities such as a very high filtration speed, effective pore distribution, lower ash, higher ignition point, etc.
At this stage, it should be obvious that wood-based activated carbon is one of the most versatile products. It is used in a wide range of industries for many purposes. It has proven to provide great results in every such industry.