Carbon Air Filters

Activated Carbon Air Filters
AIR PURIFIER TECHNOLOGY

BY
PHILIP D. MYERS, JR., PHD, PE | PRINCIPAL RESEARCH ENGINEER
JANUARY 31, 2018
If you are looking for an activated carbon air filter to get rid of strong odors or harmful
gases in your home, you have come to the right place to get all the details. Learn
more about why people use carbon air purifiers, whether they work, and if you
should use one to filter the air in your home.
Activated carbon has special properties that allow it to remove volatile organic
compounds (VOCs), odors, and other gaseous pollutants from the air. It
accomplishes this in a way that is different from other air purifiers like HEPA that only
filter particle pollution from the air. Carbon air filters trap gas molecules on a bed of
charcoal, a process that has a surprisingly colorful history. Here you will dive deep
into how they work. Then you can consider if using a carbon air filter will meet your
needs by examining its advantages and drawbacks.
What are activated carbon air filters?

Carbon air filters are the filters most commonly used to remove gases. They are
designed to filter gases through a bed of activated carbon (also called activated
charcoal) and are usually used to combat volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
released from common household products. They are also often used to remove
odors from the air, such as the smell of tobacco smoke. They cannot remove fine
particles like mold, dust, or pollen from the air.
The colorful history of carbon filtration

Humans have been using charcoal to purify water–sometimes accidentally–for
thousands of years.
First, what is charcoal or carbon?

These interchangeable terms refer to the remnants of incomplete combustion.
Picture the charred piece of wood that is left over after a campfire. Only the readily
combustible material in the wood has burned away, either because of insufficient
heat or poor supply of oxygen. The black char that remains is mostly carbon. The
industrial process of making charcoal accomplishes it by heating a substance in a
vacuum chamber, which releases all the volatile compounds and leaves behind all
the carbon. Wood is commonly used to make charcoal, but coconut shells and coal
are also used. Each substance creates a slightly different kind of charcoal.
How is carbon activated?

Activated carbon is carbon that has undergone some additional processing to make
it better at trapping gas molecules. First, it is injected with hot air, carbon dioxide, or
steam, which creates a lattice of tiny pores in the carbon, vastly increasing its
surface area. This creates many more places for molecules to become trapped and
makes the carbon far more effective as a filter medium. A paper by the Ohio
Environmental Protection Agency notes that a single gram of activated carbon can
have hundreds of square meters of internal surface area. Most activated carbon is
also treated with a chemical that enhances its ability to filter specific pollutants.
The colorful history of using carbon filtration.
How did humans figure out that carbon can be effective at filtering contaminants? It
is likely the earliest use was to remove impurities in smelted metal for the
manufacture of bronze. The Egyptians appear to have been the first to use it in a
medical way, to remove odors associated with infections. We know that sailors in the
16th through 18th centuries often stored their drinking water in barrels that had either
been charred or smeared with charcoal on the inside to keep the water fresh on long
voyages.
In World War I, gas masks utilized charcoal air filters to remove some of the deadly
gases used against the troops, but it was only effective against some of the toxins.
The production and use of activated carbon grew dramatically only after World War
II, eventually leading to the development of modern activated carbon air filters, as
well as water filters.
How do carbon air filters trap gaseous pollutants?
DIAGRAM: ADSORPTION IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM ABSORPTION. AIRBORNE GASEOUS CHEMICALS (SPECIFICALLY
VOLATILE ORGANIC CHEMICALS, OR VOCS) STICK THE SURFACE OF CARBON AIR FILTERS UNTIL THE FILTER SURFACE IS
FULLY SATURATED.
Activated carbon air filters remove pollutants from the air with a process known as
adsorption. Note that this is different from absorption. In absorption, the substance
you want to remove (let’s say water) is absorbed into the structure of the absorbent
(like a sponge), but it doesn’t become a part of the absorbent on a molecular level.
Therefore, when you absorb water with a sponge, the water does not become
chemically bonded to the sponge. It just fills in the spaces inside it.
Carbon filters on the other hand use ad-sorption, not ab-sorption. The key
difference here is that during adsorption the pollutants stick to the outside of the
carbon. Whereas with absorption, the pollutants are absorbed inside the structure
itself–as with the sponge.
Carbon is a lattice of carbon atoms connected to each other. The activation process
is so important because the increase in surface area gives gases a greater area to
stick to. When a molecule of some gaseous substance comes through the carbon, it
can stick to the surface of the bed, provided there is an open adsorption site.
The process of adsorption allows carbon air filters to filter organic chemicals (gases)
from the air. The problem with the activated carbon bed is that over time, the
gaseous pollutants increasingly fill up the adsorption sites of the activated carbon.
Once the bed is saturated, the filter can no longer trap pollutants. In fact, chemicals
with a greater affinity for an adsorption site can displace those with lesser affinity,
and the affinity of a given chemical for the sorbent is highly dependent on ambient
conditions such as temperature and relative humidity. So, as conditions change,
different chemicals may be released from the filter. When a carbon air filter is
saturated, you might notice it giving off a strange odor. This is a strong indicator that
it’s time to change your carbon filter.
How to effectively use an activated carbon air filter

Carbon air filters can be an important part of your home air purification system, but
they have to be used correctly.
 Make sure it uses enough carbon. Some filters claim to be activated carbon
filters, but they use only a trace of carbon. These will not be effective because
they become saturated almost immediately. A rough guideline is that a good
activated carbon air filter uses at least five pounds of carbon–of course, not all
carbon is created equal, and some may have more binding sites (and
saturation capacity) than others. But, generally speaking, the more carbon
used, the more effective it can be because there will be more sorption sites to
stick to.
 Air flow is vital. To remove the most pollutants possible from the air, the air
needs to spend the maximum possible amount of time passing through the
carbon. In the air filter industry, this is known as “dwell time.” A filter with a
good amount of carbon of sufficient thickness and high dwell time is going to
be far more effective than a filter with a thin layer of carbon.
 Change your carbon filter. Once the carbon becomes saturated, it loses all
effectiveness as an air filter. It is imperative that you change it out for a fresh
carbon filter when this happens. The problem is that there is not a perfect
method of knowing when carbon is saturated. Sometimes you will notice the
smell; sometimes you will not. You can follow the manufacturer’s guidelines
and change it on a regular basis, although this is just a rough estimate. The
carbon becomes saturated depending on how heavily it is used and the
amount of pollutants it is exposed to. Replacing carbon filters is a costly
investment, but a monthly replacement schedule is a good starting point.
Please note that according to the EPA, gas-phase filters, like activated carbon,
cannot readily remove carbon monoxide, and employing other important steps, like
having a carbon monoxide detector, must be used to prevent exposure.
Now that you know how to use a carbon filter well, the next step is to learn which
situations it can be effectively used for.
What is activated carbon good at?

Activated carbon air filters can be helpful in a few areas.
 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Carbon air filters can be effective at

filtering VOCs from the air. These are gaseous substances that most other
mechanical filters like HEPA filters, cannot touch. Some of the gases in
cigarette smoke or those given off by drying paint or cleaning products can be
removed from the air by a carbon filter. Benzene, toluene, xylene, and some
chlorinated compounds are among those that may be removed by carbon
filters.
 Odors. Mechanical air purifiers that can only filter particles cannot remove
unpleasant odors at all. People therefore often use carbon filters to remove
smells, though of course, they cannot remove all of them.
Drawbacks to using activated carbon filters

 Filter replacement. Replacing saturated carbon filters may become
inconvenient and expensive. It can also be a hard to determine when your
carbon filter needs replacing as there are no visible signs when it is fully
saturated. You just have to guess or rely on the manufacturer’s replacement
recommendations.
 Cannot remove particle pollution. Carbon air filters remove many organic
compounds from the air, but as mentioned above, they cannot address
particulate pollutants. These particles may include allergens like dust and
pollen, or even those from secondhand or wildfire smoke–the latter of which
can be especially dangerous in the near term.
Should you use a carbon air filter?

Perhaps you would like to use a carbon filter to remove odors for the short term,
such as during a wildfire or home renovation. Or maybe you are concerned about the
VOCs being released in your home from household products or building materials
(like formaldehyde). In these cases, using a carbon filter is an acceptable option.
However, for the long term, a carbon filter may not be the best investment from a
cost standpoint. You would need to purchase one with a large amount of carbon
within the filter, constantly monitor the saturation of the filter and replace it whenever
needed. In addition, because it does not remove particles which are a major type of
indoor air pollutant, you would only be addressing part of the problem of indoor air
pollution. For these reasons, it may be wise to invest instead in a more robust
solution. There are hybrid air purifiers that contain a carbon filter as well as a
mechanical filter like HEPA.
Our solution
Another option is a new technology called Photo Electrochemical Oxidation (PECO)
that is found inside of the Molekule air purifier. The Molekule device is able to
remove gases like volatile organic compounds, but unlike a carbon filter, it destroys
them. Thus, there is no risk of these gases being released back into the air because
of filter saturation. An activated carbon air filter can be a good short-term option, but
in the long run, the Molekule could be a better solution for your needs.
Laboratory tests (please see test report one and two) were performed by the
University of Minnesota Particle Calibration Laboratory of the Molekule air purifier. In
one experiment, PECO was tested against a carbon filter. The carbon air filter was
able to remove VOCs from the air through adsorption on the filter surface; however,
once fresh air was introduced into the chamber, the gases were released back into
the air (this is called outgassing). In contrast, the Molekule technology was able to
eliminate the VOCs from the air with no danger of outgassing.
Carbon’s ability to purify water and air has a remarkable history. After you have
considered how carbon air filters work and when they are effective, you can decide
which type of air purifier is appropriate for your situation and budget.

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Activated Carbon Air Filters

AIR PURIFIER TECHNOLOGY

JANUARY 31, 2018

What are activated carbon air filters?

The colorful history of carbon filtration

First, what is charcoal or carbon?

How is carbon activated?

How to effectively use an activated carbon air filter

What is activated carbon good at?

 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Carbon air filters can be effective at

Drawbacks to using activated carbon filters

Should you use a carbon air filter?

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