Although, we know that one-third of the world is covered with water but yet there is a scarcity of drinking water. Water is available everywhere, in oceans, in the seas, rivers, lakes but this water is not suitable for consumption by human beings. If consumed, it may cause many types of water-borne diseases like dysentery, cholera, which is due to the dissolved impurities in the water. The water of different sources may evaporate microorganisms like bacteria, fungi as well as many suspended particles which are harmful to health.
However, drinking an adequate amount of water is immensely important for your optimum fitness performance. In other words, drinking healthy water is essential for your well-being. Studies depict that our body cells and organs need water to function properly. So, you ought to use water-intake calculator to calculate your ideal water intake. This hydrated calculator also shows general water intake recommendations according to EFSA and IOM the institute of medicine.
Thus, to make water suitable for consumption, there are many filtering processes. Among them, the most popular is using charcoal as we know that charcoal contains carbon. This carbon is a porous material; this can absorb impurities from water. Activated charcoal is a combination of carbon and oxygen. The carbon becomes active when millions of pores of carbon open due to the reaction with oxygen.
To make a much more porous by-product of charcoal, most people use specific fabrication techniques so that this charcoal reacts with oxygen, thus making it more effective in removing the impurities ad contaminated chemicals from water. These activated charcoals absorb most of the coloured and coloured compounds from liquids.
The best example that can be sited regarding the removal of odour by charcoal is when we put this charcoal in the refrigerator to remove the smell from it. This is the reason why we have seen from childhood that our mothers used to keep charcoal inside the fridge. For water pollutant absorption, it passes over the carbon ions which are positively charged, and the negative ions of the toxin materials are being drawn from the water and absorbed by its surface.
History Of Activated Charcoal
The previous civilizations discovered charcoal as a preservative, and thus, they used as an antibacterial agent. They started using charcoal to prevent the rotting of wood. When more centuries passed, more and more advancements and uses of charcoal were discovered. For example, charcoal was used to seal the holes in ships, to scorch wooden barrels for storing water to be used in later purposes. The best uses of charcoal are in water filtration, where activated charcoal is the primary product.
Uses Of Activated Charcoal In Water Filters
There, are two methods of water filtration in which the activated charcoal removes pollutants from water. They are Adsorption and catalytic reduction.
Adsorption is the process which refers to the attractions of atoms, ions, and molecules from liquid, gas or solid. This process is slightly different from absorption as particles undergoing intake are taken by volume, but in case of the particles undergoing adsorption, they are taken up by the surface and not by size.
The catalytic reduction is the process where the negatively charged particles are attracted to the positively charged particles of the activated carbon. Organic compounds in water are filtered by absorption, and the other disinfectants like chlorine are removed from the catalytic reduction.
These activated carbon filters are efficient in removing the hazardous organic chemicals like chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals like lead, arsenic that are found in the tap and the surface water.
Although these activated and catalytic carbon filters are effective in removing the hazardous metals from the water like hydrogen sulphide, heavy metals, chlorine, chloramines but they may not be effective in eliminating the dissolved inorganic impurities like minerals, salts, copper and other microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, etc.
For getting efficiency in all resp