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Table of Contents
 
Summary
Introduction
Manufacturing Processes
Raw Materials
Conversion Steps
Reactivation Processes
Environmental Issues
Supply and Demand by Region
United States
Producing Companies
Production
Consumption
Liquid-Phase Applications
Potable water
Wastewater
Sweetener decolorizing
Groundwater
Household uses
Food, beverages and oils
Mining
Pharmaceuticals
Dry cleaning
Electroplating
Chemical processing and other
Gas-Phase Applications
Air purification
Automotive evaporation control systems
Solvent vapor recovery
Cigarettes
Other
Price
Trade
Imports
Exports
Canada
Mexico
Central and South america
Western Europe
Producing Companies
Production
Consumption
Price
Trade
Central and Eastern Europe
Japan
Producing Companies
Production and Sales
Consumption
Granular Activated Carbon
Powdered Activated Carbon
High-Performance Activated Carbon
Price
Trade
China
Producing Companies
Production and consumption
Trade
Other Asia
The Republic of Korea
Taiwan
Asian Trade
   
  Activated Carbon
   
  Elvira Greiner and Yoshio Inoguchi and Thomas Kaelin
  Published December 2006
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  Abstract
   
 

Activated carbon is an amorphous form of elemental carbon prepared by destructive distillation of any one of a variety of carbonaceous raw materials, including wood, coal or coconut shells. It is used as a substrate primarily to selectively adsorb gases, vapors or colloidal solids from liquids or gases. The principal commercial product forms of activated carbon are granular, powdered, extruded and fibers.

The following pie chart shows world consumption of activated carbon in 2005:

The major impact of environmental concerns on activated carbon markets is a very positive one. Such concerns and the regulatory activities they engender are the largest single driving force behind the substantial growth that activated carbon has enjoyed in the past two decades. This driving force appears likely to continue to push the growth of activated carbon in the future, particularly in the developing industrial areas of the world where water and air pollution are becoming serious problems.

In the major industrial areas, growth in activated carbon consumption for environmental protection may be slightly slower than in the past few years as a result of at least two factors. One is the strategy urged by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution by not creating it in the first place—that is, by changing industrial processes and equipment to manufacture products without generating waste products that become pollutants. This strategy is beginning to have a sizable impact on the volume of waste products and pollution generated by industry.

The other factor limiting activated carbon consumption for environmental control is the continued development of competitive technologies, such as ozonation, biological and phytological remediation and many others. These new technologies will, in some cases, substitute for or alleviate the need for the use of activated carbon in pollution control applications.

Environmental concerns have had a negative impact on activated carbon companies in a few cases in the United States and in Western Europe. The basic manufacturing processes for activated carbon can be polluting in themselves if not properly designed and operated. The emission of carbon dust particles (either airborne or in wastewater streams) from activated carbon plants have been reported in a few isolated incidents, for example.

A potentially more serious problem is the reintroduction of waste materials, hazardous or otherwise, into the environment from activated carbon reactivation plants that are not properly designed or operated to handle such materials. The activated carbon processed in these plants is loaded with waste materials when it enters the plant. In some cases, such wastes are safely decomposed by the high temperatures used to reactivate the carbon. In other cases, such as with halogenated organics, the decomposition products are themselves toxic and must be controlled in one way or another. Inorganic waste materials (e.g., heavy metals or radioactive materials) are not generally decomposed by heat and so must be disposed of safely after removal from the activated carbon substrate.

The activated carbon business will continue to be driven by environmental regulations, principally water and air purification, especially in the mature and more industrialized areas of the world in the future. Environmental issues will likely become the predominant force in the markets of rapidly developing countries as well in the next five years.

 
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