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Activated carbon filters play a vital role in laboratory air purification due to their excellent chemical gas adsorption capacity. They can effectively remove harmful gases, protect the health and safety of laboratory workers, and ensure the accuracy of experimental results.

The manufacturing process of activated carbon filters directly affects their performance and reliability, and different manufacturing processes will produce different usage effects and maintenance requirements. This article will explore the manufacturing processes of activated carbon filters in depth, analyze how they affect the performance of the filters, and explore the application of these processes in laboratory air purification.

 Two Manufacturing Processes of Activated Carbon Filters 

In the manufacture of activated carbon filters, there are two main processes: granular activated carbon filters and bonded activated carbon filters. These two processes have significant differences in structure and performance, and their respective characteristics determine their applicability in specific application scenarios.

▲ The pictures are from the Internet and are for reference only.

 Granular activated carbon filter 

Granular activated carbon filter is a common type in the market. This filter is manufactured by directly encapsulating carbon particles of a certain particle size in a box. Although its manufacturing process is relatively simple, this design brings some inevitable problems in practical applications.

A major problem with granular activated carbon filters is the penetration effect. Due to the uneven distribution of carbon particles in the filter, especially during transportation and handling, the carbon particles tend to gather at one end of the filter, causing the airflow to pass mainly through these loose areas, thereby reducing the overall adsorption efficiency of the filter.

Over time, these loose areas may form through-holes under the action of airflow, losing the efficiency of filtering chemical gases. To solve this problem, a grid-like or honeycomb partition structure is usually used to constrain the activated carbon particles, but this still cannot completely avoid the formation of local micro-perforations, and an overly dense partition structure will also destroy the uniformity and permeability of the ventilation surface.

Another problem with granular activated carbon filters is carbon leakage. During the movement and use of the filter, the friction and collision between the carbon particles will produce carbon chips with smaller particle sizes, which escape the filter with the airflow, forming a carbon leakage phenomenon.

Carbon leakage not only destroys the cleanliness of the laboratory, which is a fatal flaw especially for ultra-clean laboratories, but also the leaked carbon has absorbed a large amount of chemical pollutants, and the secondary pollution caused by this will have extremely serious consequences. In addition, carbon leakage also means a continuous reduction in the amount of carbon, affecting the adsorption efficiency of the activated carbon filter.

In order to avoid the consequences of carbon leakage, granular activated carbon filters usually need to be used in conjunction with an additional safety filter. The purpose of the safety filter is to absorb the leaked carbon and prevent secondary pollution. Despite this, this still cannot fundamentally solve the reduced adsorption efficiency caused by carbon leakage and the lack of safety performance caused by penetration.

 Bonded activated carbon filter 

The bonded activated carbon filter is a solution specially developed to address the defects of granular activated carbon filters. This filter uses a special chemical bonding process to firmly connect the carbon particles into a whole, thus avoiding the penetration effect and carbon leakage problems of granular activated carbon filters.

The main advantage of the bonded activated carbon filter is that its carbon particles maintain good uniformity on the entire ventilation surface, without any penetration effect or carbon leakage. This filter can be figuratively likened to sachima or rice candy. Although it is composed of small pieces of particles, these particles are connected to each other, will not fall off, and will not produce flying dust.

During the manufacturing process of the bonded activated carbon filter, it is necessary to ensure the bonding effect while ensuring that the ventilation and adsorption efficiency will not be significantly reduced. This makes the manufacturing process of the bonded filter relatively complicated.

When choosing an activated carbon filter, laboratory managers need to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the two filters according to the specific application requirements and budget, and choose the product that best suits their laboratory environment. KLC believes that with the advancement of technology and the improvement of manufacturing processes, more efficient and safe activated carbon filters may be available in the future, providing more options for laboratory air purification.