Activated Carbon in HEPA Air Purifiers

Are you an aquarium hobbyist, or own a water purification system? If not, chances are you have no idea what activated carbon is, or what it could possibly do in HEPA Air Purifiers. Even if the concept itself isn't totally foreign, you probably still don't know exactly what it does. Although the activated carbon is a physically small part of the HEPA air filter, the role it plays in filtering the air is huge.  It is solely responsible for filtering odors and chemicals out of the air that passes through your HEPA air purifier.   Many people don't even really know what carbon is, which is rather ironic since we humans are carbon based organisms, just like every other living thing on this planet.  In fact, the only type of life that we know about is carbon based. 

Different Types Of Activated Carbon

Though there are different types of activated carbon, and it's often described in various ways, all activated carbon is nothing more than amorphous carbon-based materials. These materials all have many holes, also known as a high degree of porosity, which cover a relatively large surface area. This is what gives the material such awesome absorbent quality, enabling it to work so extremely well in filtering both air and water and making it so vital in HEPA air purifiers – or at least the ones that will actually filter chemicals and odors. In some ways, unless you there is some sort of obvious physical contaminant, such as cigarette smoke or dust, it doesn't even make sense to use a HEPA air purifier unless it does contain activated carbon. Even so, if there is cigarette smoke, you can be assured that the air purifier on its own cannot take care of everything in that smoke. In summary, to really get the best experience from your new HEPA air purifier, make sure it's one that also takes care of odors and chemicals.

What Does "Activated" Mean?

So, what is "activated" carbon, and is there such a thing as non-activated carbon? The heat used in "activating" the carbon drives the impurities out of the carbon itself, leaving places for the impurities of the water or air or whatever it is the carbon is filtering to reside. In a way, carbon can act sort of like a sponge, only instead of squeezing out its contents, one heats it out. Once the activated carbon is full, it can be reactivated by re-heating it, though this is considered to be impractical and dangerous, especially in the case of a HEPA air purifier where the carbon is going to be a very, very small pat of the filter, and probably encased in plastic. Non-activated carbon would basically be carbon that has stuff in it already, such as soot or charcoal.

Was Active Carbon Used Before HEPA Air Purifiers?

Oddly enough, we humans have been using activated carbon to filter water for a long time; as long as two centuries. Way back then, they already knew of activated carbon's great absorption qualities. Beginning in the early 1900's, activated carbon was produced and sold commercially in the form of a powder. Only used to remove taste or smell from water or color from sugar, we really didn't know at that point exactly what all it could do for us. Once World War I was in full swing, it was discovered that it could be used in gas masks for protecting our soldiers from the chemical agents in the air. The soldiers also used it, as did their ancestors, for water purification. By this point, commercial activated carbon had evolved from powder form to a granular form, which was the beginning of activated carbon being used in even more other ways.

How Activated Carbon Is Used In HEPA Air Purifiers

For most people, though, the first time they encounter activated carbon will be in choosing HEPA air purifiers. Most customers begin their search for air purifiers due to asthma or allergies. As they learn more about HEPA air purifiers, though, they'll learn that many of their respiratory problems come from chemicals and odors in the room. Therefore, most quality HEPA air purifiers are designed to address the chemicals and odors as well as the allergens themselves. This is where the activated carbon comes in. It's job, as part of the HEPA air filter, is to filter out those odors and chemicals – basically by absorbing them. Notice, though, that I said quality HEPA air purifiers. There are many that do not even address the issue of odors and chemicals, and so going just by the text on the box or online summary, you may not have even known this was something air purifiers could do.