Instructions for making a simple activated carbon water filter

Clean water is one of the raw materials that are gradually falling into scarcity due to environmental pollution due to many reasons. In order to have a clean water source for production and living needs, it is extremely necessary to filter water from natural or reused water sources. One of the effective filtering methods widely applied today is Activated carbon water filter. Specifically, follow this article right now!

What is activated carbon?

Activated carbon, also known as activated carbon, English is Activated Carbon is a type of carbon containing carbon with high porosity, many small pores, large area. Due to its special structure, activated carbon has the ability to easily absorb and react with many different substances.

This type of activated carbon is created from burning carbon-rich natural fuels such as wood, coconut shells, coal, bamboo wood, etc. under high temperature conditions from 600-900℃.

Activated carbon today is widely applied in cleaning equipment such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and especially water purifiers. In addition, activated carbon has many uses, they can be used in the medical field, industry, even beauty and health.

Benefits of filtering water with activated carbon

Activated carbon plays an important role in water purification systems. They are used a lot in water purifiers such as well water with a lot of sediment, fishy smell, alum contaminated water, water with relatively high hardness, rain water, fish farming water … So the effect of activated carbon in What are water filtration systems that they are so necessary?

Eliminate bacteria, retain beneficial minerals

The first is the extremely effective bacteria removal effect of activated charcoal. But the important point is that they do not completely remove the beneficial ingredients in the water. Activated carbon has the ability to absorb organic matter, heavy metal ions in water but keep other beneficial minerals intact.

Improve water taste

As mentioned above, activated carbon is widely applied in areas where well water has sediment and has a foul smell due to the influence of the surrounding environment. They can filter out the dirt along with the fishy smell of the water, giving the water a much better taste.

The tap water we use is more likely to be filtered with chemicals or additives, so it has a rather unpleasant smell. Activated carbon has the effect of removing excess chemicals, residual metals in water and helping to improve the taste of water and make it easier to use.

Cost savings

An equally important advantage of activated carbon is that they help save costs. This is a common material with relatively low cost, which can be supplied to many residential areas or for production and cultivation purposes. In addition, the activated carbon filter system is applied to a variety of water sources from rain water, lake water to tap water.

Easy to replace – maintain

Activated carbon is saturated after a certain period of use because it has absorbed impurities. However, you can easily replace them simply without spending too much money, time or effort. The tap water filter system with activated carbon core has a shelf life of up to 1 year, after 1 year you can buy a new one and replace the inner core.

Types of activated carbon for water purification

Activated carbon powder

Powdered Activated Carbon or the English name is Powdered Activated Carbon PAC. As the name suggests, they are coal that is ground into a fine powder. The main purpose of using powders is to increase the contact surface area, but they are also very easily washed away when exposed to high velocity currents. Powdered activated carbon is often used to filter drinking water or domestic water.

Granular activated carbon

Powdered Activated Carbon – granular activated carbon is a larger size than powder, texture is therefore also more durable. In addition to being used in domestic water filtration, well water, granular activated carbon is also used in RO water purifiers, exhaust gas purifiers or other wastewater.

Activated carbon tablets

Pelletized activated carbon is the most used type of charcoal with many different tablet shapes. They are used in domestic wastewater treatment systems, well water filtration systems and other filtration equipment. With a large, solid tablet shape, activated carbon in tablet form is not affected by strong flow.

Working mechanism of activated carbon filter tank

The working mechanism of the activated carbon filter tank is quite simple. From the water source to be filtered, they are led into the filter tank and passed through the filtration system including: layer of sand, layer of activated carbon, yellow sand, quartz, small gravel layer, large gravel … or there are additional layers with materials different depending on the characteristics of the loc system.

In the first layer of sand, dirt, organisms or other residues are retained. To the layer of activated carbon, toxic substances, heavy metals, dissolved organic matter. The next layers will eliminate bacteria, dirt and at this time the water will have a certain clarity. After that, the filtered water will pass through another tank, where there will be other filtration measures to create the cleanest water source for users.

Depending on the level of contamination at the water being filtered, the filtration system needs to be replaced and the filter layers renewed to ensure that the water is not back-contaminated.

Instructions for making a simple activated carbon water filter

Prepare materials

• Yellow sand or quartz sand used for the filter tank system;
• Black sand has been cleaned;
• Large gravel, small gravel;
• Filox beads: this is a specialized material to reduce iron, manganese and Hydrogen Sulfide gas present in water;
• Activated carbon (it is recommended to use small-sized coconut shell activated carbon);
• PVC filter pipe has small holes about 0.5cm in diameter, drilled along the pipe body.

How to install an activated carbon water filter system?

First, we need to install the filter from bottom to top in the following order:

• First class: Use large-sized gravel to create a distance to place the PVC filter, so pour a layer of gravel about 10cm.
• Second class is a layer of gravel with a size smaller than about 5 to 7 cm.
• Third class: Use cleaned yellow sand or use specialized quartz sand for the filter tank, this 3rd layer should have a thickness of 5 to 10cm.
• Fourth grade: Activated carbon layer, should use pellets shaped like rat droppings to remove color, odor and organic impurities. The activated carbon layer should have a thickness of 10-15cm depending on the water source and the conditions of the household.
• Fifth class is a layer of black sand that has been cleaned, usually this layer of sand has a thickness of 20 to 30 cm.
• The top of the water filter system is a sprinkler. We should use the shower so that the water is sprayed evenly on the tank. Do not let the water flow too strongly or focus on only one place. Thus, the water will not be spread evenly on the surface of the filter tank, the top layer of sand may be drifted, losing the ability to filter at the first step. This is extremely important, it affects the output water quality of the system.

Note: The above are the volumes and sizes for a 1m3 filter tank for household use, depending on the size of the family used, it can be changed to match your filter tank.

Depending on the purpose of use and economic conditions of each household and business, it is possible to build a different volume of filter tanks. But the minimum recommended height of the filter tank is above 1m for maximum efficiency.

The activated carbon water filter system is extremely simple and cost-effective. This is a highly applicable filter system, easily implemented in all areas from rural to urban areas or from households to production sites. The system’s materials are easily found at specialized stores across the country, you can choose to buy and make your own at home. However, water sources have different characteristics, so the type of water filtered by the activated carbon system should not be drunk directly or should be consulted by an expert who analyzes the water composition to ensure the health of the family. or production.