OVER150

VARIETIES OF
ACTIVATED CARBON.
AND HERE’S WHY.

Most Choices. Precise Fit. Best Performance.

 C hoosing the right activated carbon for an application
isn’t always so obvious. Even though activated
carbon may look the same to the naked eye, pore size and
structure make a huge difference in how well impurities
are adsorbed. That’s why NORIT has taken the time to
test thousands of combinations of raw materials, activation
methods, activity levels, and other factors. As a result,
NORIT offers over 150 different varieties of activated
carbon, ensuring you get the precise fit for your application.
This precise fit translates into best performance, whether
it’s meeting critical product specifications, using the least
amount to accomplish your task, or getting longer treatment
cycles and fewer changeouts.

By sharing this information with you, we hope you

become more aware of the subtleties of activated carbon.
So the next time you make an activated carbon choice,
you’ll go with NORIT and know why.

What Does It Take First, we ask a lot of questions about your application and collect relevant
To Find The Precise Fit data. Next, our technical specialists analyze your information, including the
For Your Application? use of computer modeling. Based on similar past experiences and review
of your application, our technical specialists recommend potential solutions. We send product samples and
testing procedures for initial trial. We then assist in setting up in-plant testing. Finally, we review the results
with plant personnel to make a final recommendation.
How Adsorptive Tests Can Fool You.

similarity to the test substance is unknown.

Some people base their choice
of activated carbon on a particular adsorptive specification. This only makes sense

a
when the size and shape of the contaminants to be removed are similar to the
substances used in testing. This may not be a reliable way to predict effectiveness
of activated carbons if the contaminants are varied, are undetermined, or if their

The iodine number test can usually predict effectiveness when very small molecules
are to be adsorbed. Tannin value and molasses number or molasses decolorizing
efficiency are more appropriate test parameters for medium and large-sized molecules
or when small molecules are present with larger molecules. For example, to solve
taste, odor and other impurity problems in drinking water, the best type of activated

a
carbon is not so easily determined because of the variety of molecules that cause the
problems. The molecules that cause these problems can range from very small to
very large. The large molecules often clog up small pores, making them inaccessible to
other molecules. A better match for this application is often an activated carbon
with more medium-sized pores. NORIT recommends performance testing first to
find the very best match.

Activated Carbon 101 —

Understanding How It Works.
NORIT manufactures activated carbons
from peat, hard and soft wood, lignite
coal, bituminous coal, coconut shell, olive pits and various specialty materials. In
fact, we’re the only manufacturer that offers this much variety in activated carbon.

This highly porous adsorptive medium has a complex structure that is composed
primarily of carbon atoms. Its network of pores within a rigid carbon skeleton
consists of disordered layers of carbon atoms which are linked together by random
chemical or carbon bonds. These carbon layers are stacked unevenly, creating a
highly porous structure of nooks, crannies, cracks and crevices between the carbon
layers. The basic mechanism through which activated carbon removes impurities
from gases or liquids through this network of pores is referred to as adsorption.
This is the key to the performance of activated carbon.
a
a
( small molecule)

(large molecule)

(oil)
 What Is Adsorption? Adsorption is when organic molecules bond to the internal pores of the activated carbon.
This occurs in pores slightly larger than the molecules that are being adsorbed, which is why it is very important to
match the molecule you are trying to adsorb with the pore size of the activated carbon. They are then trapped within
the carbon’s internal pore structure by electrostatic attraction and accumulate onto a solid surface.

There Are Two Types Of Adsorption.

Physical Adsorption - During this process, the adsorbates are held on the
surface of the pore walls by weak electrostatic forces. This electrostatic
attraction is due to “van der Waal’s forces” which are named after the
scientist who studied them. These forces diminish with increased
distance of the organic molecule from the pore wall.

Chemisorption - This involves relatively strong forces of attraction, actual

chemical bonds between adsorbates and chemical complexes on the pore
wall of the activated carbon.

What Are The Key Properties Of Activated Carbon?

Surface Area - Common sense would lead you to believe that
the higher the internal surface area, the higher the effective-
ness. This is true some of the time, but not always. If mole-
TOTAL PORE MEAN PORE SURFACE cules are larger than the pore openings, they clog up the
CARBON TYPE VOLUME RADIUS IN AREA
ml/g ANGSTROMS m2/g openings and don’t allow smaller molecules to get in
GAS PHASE
the narrower pores.
Coconut Shell 0.5 - 0.6 10 - 11 1000 - 1100
Peat 0.6 - 0.7 11 - 12 1000 - 1275 Total Pore Volume - Refers to all pore spaces inside a particle of
activated carbon. It is expressed in milliliters per gram (ml/g),
Bituminous Coal 0.6 - 0.7 12 - 14 1000 - 1150
volume in relationship to weight. In general, the higher the pore
LIQUID PHASE
volume, the higher the effectiveness. However, if the sizes of the
Bituminous Coal 0.7 - 0.8 14 - 16 900 - 1050 molecules to be adsorbed are not a good match to the pore
Lignite Coal 0.9 - 1.0 29 - 32 600 - 675 size, some of the pore volume will not be utilized. Total pore
Peat 1.1 - 1.2 23 - 26 900 - 1050 volume (T.P.V.) differs by raw material source and type of
activation method.
Wood 1.4 - 1.8 22 - 26 1200 - 1600
(Chemically Activated)

Pore Radius - The mean (average) pore radius, often

In many cases, total pore measured in angstroms, differs by activated carbon type.
volume and average pore
radius correlate, but there
are exceptions. Lignite-based Pore Volume Distribution - Each type of carbon has its own
unique distribution of pore sizes. They’re referred to as
carbons are in the middle of
micropores (small), mesopores (medium) and macropores
the range of carbon types in
(large). Carbons for adsorbing many type of gas molecules
terms of total pore volume, are microporous. The best carbons for decolorization have a
yet they have the largest higher distribution of mesopores than carbons for other
mean pore radius. applications.
 Most real-world, liquid
Adsorbate Properties. process streams contain
Non-polar, organic species are readily adsorbed by activated carbon. The more a mixture of adsorbable
soluble a substance, the less likely it is to be adsorbed. Therefore, variables such substances. This can
as temperature, concentration and pH affect both solubility of the adsorbate and make performance
adsorption by the carbon. predictions difficult due
to competitive adsorption
The molecular weight of the adsorbate also plays a key role. For example, many
gaseous impurities are typically of low molecular weight, so adsorption occurs
or blockage of micropores
almost exclusively in the micropores of the carbon structure since the impurities by larger molecules. As
are small and rapidly reach the smallest pores. Where gaseous impurities are a result, plant trials are
larger, such as mercury and dioxins in incinerator stack emissions, a powdered the only true measure
carbon of fine grind with larger pore sizes allows for more rapid adsorption of these of an activated carbon’s
contaminants.
performance.

The Different Shapes Of Activated Carbon. Activated carbon is available in three forms or shapes:
powder, granular and extruded. And each form is available in many sizes. Based upon your application and
requirements, a specific form and size are recommended.

What Are The In general, PACs are composed of particles smaller than 80 mesh and are mainly
Benefits Of Powdered used for liquid phase purification in a batch process. PAC is mixed with the liquid
Activated Carbon (PAC)? to be purified. After the impurities have been adsorbed, the PAC is removed by
filtration or sedimentation. The particle size distribution of the PAC is important, as it can affect the rate of adsorption,
filterability and sedimentation. We offer several particle size distributions, giving you maximum adsorption, filtration
or sedimentation based on your requirements.

Our PAC is versatile, in that the dosage applied can be easily altered. Therefore, a certain degree of contaminant removal
can be easily controlled. This is important when complete decolorization and/or taste removal is not desirable. PAC
also can be used with standard chemical plant equipment like tanks, stirrers and filters. So it’s possible to use the same
equipment line to purify different products in separate batches.

D I F F E R E N T I A L V O L U M E % O F F O U R D I F F E R E N T A C T I VAT E D C A R B O N P R O D U C T S

Filterability is affected by particle

6
DARCO S - 51 size and particle size distribution.
5 Generally, the smaller the particle
VOLUME %

4 DARCO S - 51FF
size and the wider the particle size
distribution, the slower the rate of
3
filtration. A very narrow particle
DARCO S - 51HF
2 size distribution like that produced
1
by our state-of-the-art milling
DARCO 80 x 325 technology is critical for good
0.6 1 2 4 6 10 20 40 100 200 400
filterability.
0.2
PARTICLE DIAMETER
 What Are The Benefits Of Granular activated carbons are gener-
Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) ? ally composed of particles of carbon
larger than 50 mesh. GAC is used for liquid phase and gas phase purification in a
continuous or semi-continuous process. The liquid or gas flows through a bed of
activated carbon in a vessel called an adsorber. Various particle size ranges are available,
depending upon the pressure drop limitations. Some common sizes available, from
largest to smallest, are (U.S. Sieve): 4 x 10 mesh, 6 x 10 mesh, 6 x 12 mesh, 12 x 20
mesh, 8 x 30 mesh, 12 x 40 mesh and 20 x 50 mesh. GAC is generally used when a
single product or stream is to be purified. The target contaminants are often com-
pletely removed. Sometimes the spent GAC may be thermally reactivated and
reused, depending upon your application.

What Are The Benefits Of This particular carbon type is produced in

Extruded Activated Carbon? a cylindrical shape. It is used for gas phase
purification, catalyst support and gold recovery. Extruded carbons are applied in
the same manner as granular carbons. Several sizes are available ranging in diameter
from 0.8 mm - 4 mm. The proper diameter to use will depend upon pressure drop
limitations of the system. Extrudates are usually harder than granular carbons, so
particle attrition during use is lower. Like granular carbons, extruded carbons may
be thermally reactivated and reused, depending upon your application.

Hardness Is A Function For example, our extrusion process results in the hardest carbons commercially
Of The Underlying Raw available. This is important in certain applications, such as catalyst support or
Material And/Or The solvent recovery, where the carbons must withstand high crush pressure. In other
Manufacturing Process. applications, hardness of the material has little or no relevance. For example, studies
have shown that in potable water treatment, the carbon is not subject to high enough hydraulic pressure to crush it
during the service mode. The hardness of a carbon is measured by one of several Abrasion Number Test methods,
depending on carbon type or application.

Other Attributes That Influence Activated Carbon Performance.

Surface Chemistry - influences the transport of compounds to the internal pores, as well as surface catalysis and
chemisorption. Carbons of different raw materials and activation methods will produce carbons with differing
surface chemistry.

Purity - is a function of the choice of raw materials, the manufacturing process, and quality control. When the
highest level of purity is desired, we wash the final product with reagents, such as acid and water, to remove
soluble components.
Attributes That Influence Activated Carbon Performance (cont.).
Particle Size - the smaller the particle size, the higher the rate of adsorption and/or catalysis.

Mean Particle Diameter/Size - gives the average size of particles from the overall size distribution.

Uniformity Coefficient - measures the degree of spread of the particle size distribution. Ratio of sizes
through which 60% and 10% of the particles pass. A value of 1 indicates all the particles are the
same size.

dx - this is the value in microns (micrometers) such that X% by volume of the particles of a
sample are less than this diameter. You will see d5, d50 and d95 values commonly reported for
powder carbon products.

The “d” values give a good indication of both the filtration properties of a powdered carbon and its
kinetic properties for adsorption. The higher the d5 value the better the filterabilty.

PARTICLE DISTRIBUTION GRAPH

5.5 5.5
5.0 5.0
4.5 d5 5.4 microns 4.5
4.0 d50 41.3 microns 4.0

%
d95 97.6 microns
3.5 3.5

V O L U M E
3.0 3.0
2.5 95% 2.5
2.0 2.0
1.5 1.5
1.0 5% 50% 1.0
0.5 0.5
0.0 5.4 41.3 97.6
0.0
0.6 1 2 5 8 18 20 60 150 200 500 1000

P A R T I C L E D I A M E T E R ( M I C R O N S )

Diffusion Effects - adsorption is a time-related phenomenon that is diffusion controlled. The adsorption process
can be described in three steps.

1) As gas or liquid contacts activated carbon particles, the impurities (absorbates) come into contact
with the external surface of the carbon particles. Smaller carbon particles have
greater external surface area, per unit volume, facilitating more rapid diffusion.
Diffusion is much more
2) Next, adsorbates diffuse into the internal pore structure.
rapid in gas phase applica-
3) Finally, adsorption is relatively fast and involves the attraction of the adsorbates tions compared to liquid
to the surface of the pore walls. The longer the contact time allowed, the more phase applications. The
adsorption occurs until equilibrium is reached. typical contact time for
gas-phase applications is
Because the flow rates across the carbon beds are so much higher for gas-phase
three to five seconds versus
applications, coarser granules or extruded products are used to minimize
the pressure drop. 12 to 60 minutes for
typical liquid systems.
 Because the Molasses
How To Read The Data Sheet. The datasheet contains useful
Decolorizing Efficiency test
information describing the characteristics for a specific activated carbon. Below
allows the solution to reach
is a brief description of some of the characteristics and why they are important. equilibrium, NORIT
The characteristics may be divided into two main groups: adsorptive properties scientists think that it more
and physical characteristics. accurately predicts the
activated carbon’s capacity
to remove color than the
How We Measure Adsorptive Properties. molasses number test.

Iodine Number - is measured by the adsorption of iodine from an aqueous

solution. Because this test measures very small pores (micropores), it is often
used as an indication of the total surface area. Activated carbons with a high
iodine number usually perform best in removing small-sized contaminants.

Molasses Number/Molasses Decolorizing Efficiency - these tests are similar, but each
gives a different value. Both measure the adsorption of molasses color from an
aqueous solution. Since the molasses color is a large-sized molecule, the test
measures capacity of an activated carbon to adsorb larger-sized contaminants.
The higher the molasses number or molasses decolorizing efficiency, the
better it will perform while removing larger-sized contaminants.

Tannin Value - this is used to predict effectiveness in removal of taste and odor
from surface water. It measures the ability of an activated carbon to remove
tannic acid, a larger molecule, and correlates very well with reduction of tastes
and odors compounds. The lower the number, the higher the capacity.

Butane Activity* - this test measures the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon
in the vapor phase. Butane gas is passed through a bed of activated carbon.
The higher the carbon’s adsorption of butane, the more capacity the activated
carbon has to remove similar saturated vapors from air streams. If the air stream
is not saturated with contaminant vapor, it is possible that another activated car-
bon with a lower butane activity may be better.

*Butane Activity Test Results - the results are often correlated to an older carbon tetrachloride
number standard which is no longer in common use due to the toxicity of this reagent.

MOLASSES NUMBER / DECOLORIZING EFFICIENCY

LIGNITE COAL BITUMINOUS COAL COCONUT SHELL

450

240 180
105 35 20
M# MDE MDE MDE
M# M#
M# - Molasses Number
MDE - Molasses Decolorizing Efficiency
 Take This Test. The following example demonstrates
how to use adsorptive properties to select the best activated
carbon for a given application. Given the task of decoloriz-
ing a dark sugar solution composed of large color bodies,
which activated carbon below would perform the best?

MOLASSES DECOLORIZING
ACTIVATED CARBON IODINE NUMBER EFFICIENCY (MDE)

NORIT PAC 200 1020 35

DARCO S-51 650 100

Answer. You would choose DARCO S-51 because of the higher molasses decolorizing
efficiency. The molasses decolorizing efficiency is an indication of how well an activated
carbon will remove large-size contaminants.

Physical Characteristics Of Activated Carbon.

Apparent Or Bulk Density - usually measured in g/ml or pounds per cubic foot, this
is used to determine the weight of a fixed volume of activated carbon. For granular
activated carbons used for liquid phase service, the backwashed and drained density
value should be used to determine an accurate value for the weight of GAC
necessary to fill a fixed bed volume.

Total Ash Content - the measure of the amount of mineral matter (Ca, Mg, Si,
Fe) in activated carbon. This parameter can be misleading by itself because the
soluble ash content is a more important parameter than total ash content for liquid
phase applications. For some applications higher ash content may be beneficial due
to the ability of certain ash constituents to chemisorb specific types of adsorbates
such as metals, inorganic species and some synthetic organics. However, in other
applications, where mineral matter leaching from the activated carbon may be a
concern, acid-washed grades are available.

Abrasion/Hardness Number - relative measure of the ability of granular carbon to

resist attrition during handling and operation. The higher the value, the more
resistant to physical degradation.

Particle Size - affects the rate of contaminant adsorption or catalytic activity. It deter-
mines the pressure drop across a granular carbon bed or a powdered carbon filter cake.
 NORIT activated
carbons are produced
How Is Activated Carbon Manufactured? Carbon is usually activated
in state-of-the-art,
by steam or chemical treatment, with steam being more common. Steam activation
modern manufacturing
involves two steps: carbonization and activation. Carbonization involves the conversion
plants. All NORIT
of the raw material into a disordered carbon structure with a very low volatile content.
manufacturing locations
Carbonization is done at elevated temperatures in an oxygen-lean environment which
are ISO 9002 certified.
keeps it from burning. In activation, some carbon atoms are vaporized, leaving behind
the highly porous structure.

Steam activation is carried out in temperatures of approximately 1,800 degrees F. (982

degrees C.). At these conditions, carbon reacts with steam to form carbon monoxide and
hydrogen, which exit as gases. The result: a highly porous carbon material.

Chemical activation is used to produce very high pore volume in wood-based carbons,
particularly in the medium-size pore range. The most common process consists of
mixing wood dust or some other cellulose-based material with a strong dehydrating
agent and then heating to a designated temperature. The activating agent not
only extracts moisture but helps prevent collapse of the pore
structure during activation.
NORIT Americas is a wholly owned subsidiary of NORIT N.V. which is based in
The Netherlands. NORIT has been in the business of manufacturing activated
carbons for over 80 years and offers the most complete product line to suit your
specific process application.

NORIT Wants To Help You NORIT knows that it takes a

Get The Best Performance variety of choices and expert
From Your Activated Carbon. application to get the best
match. So, no matter what your needs are, you can be assured you’re
getting the best choice of activated carbon that precisely fits your
needs. To see how you can take advantage of our application
knowledge, call us today at 1 - 8 0 0 - 6 4 1 - 9 2 4 5 .

NORIT is one of the largest

producers of activated
carbon in the world and
has led the way in technical
development in the applica-
tion of its products in a
number of industries.
 NORIT Nederland BV NORIT Deutschland G.m.b.H.
Amersfoort, The Netherlands Düsseldorf, Germany
Telephone: 31334648911 Telephone: 49211906020
Telefax: 31334617429 Telefax: 49211161115

NORIT (U.K.) Ltd. N.V. NORIT Belgium S.A.

Glasgow, Scotland Brussels, Belgium
Telephone: 441416418841 Telephone: 3226750645
Telefax: 441416410742 Telefax: 3226751119

NORIT (France) S.a.r.l. NORIT (Japan) Co. Ltd.

Paris, France Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
Telephone: 33145910808 Telephone: 81352952850
Telefax: 33148673603 Telefax: 81352952860

NORIT Italia S.p.A NORIT Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Ravenna, Italy Singapore, Singapore
Telephone: 39544451514 Telephone: 657353066
Telefax: 39544451283 Telefax: 657353166

NORIT Americas Inc.

1050 Crown Pointe Parkway, Suite 1500 • Atlanta, Georgia 30338
800-641-9245 • 770-512-4610 • FAX 770-512-4622
NA58 - 2 9/98 10,000 www.norit.com