Making Activated Carbon

I increase the effective surface area of some charcoal by ~50X

[austinliu]

Hello Cody,
I have a recommendation that would likely work better. Instead of boiling water using a torch and sending steam into the carbon, send the torch flame directly into the tube that goes into the furnace. The exhaust of a properly tuned torch has a huge amount of water vapor in it, and some carbon dioxide, while containing little to no oxygen. Propane is C3H8; when fully combusted, each propane molecule results in four water molecules and three carbon dioxide molecules. Both carbon dioxide and water vapor will carry out reduction reactions that pit the charcoal and increase its surface area; hot carbon dioxide gives up one of its oxygens upon striking charcoal, resulting in two carbon monoxides. Reduction reactions are way more efficient at higher temperatures, and the exhaust of a torch is far hotter than the steam you were using.

I work at a micro-scale biomass gasifier company. The charcoal produced by our reactors passes through a 600-800˚C reduction zone, and was lab tested to have 496 m^2 of surface area per gram. Try using the torch flame itself as the source of the reduction gases. Insulate the tube that feeds your reaction chamber; the hotter the gases, the more efficiently the reduction occurs. Since all the reduction reactions are endothermic, making the gas hotter gives it more energy to carry out the reduction reactions.

[themightiestofbooshes]

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[thallok]

Cody, this is one of the best videos you have ever produced!!!! You have used stoichiometry and mass balance in the past, but this was a true experiment, showing the difference between a control and three different test substances. Each step, including the screening of particle size was well planned out.  

It also has very practical real-world applications. For example, the Keurig that sits on my countertop has an activated carbon filter to remove taste-related chemicals prior to brewing.

Thanks for a really excellent video!

[nicholashall]

I was searching for a DIY activated carbon recipe and most of the content I saw was nonsense. This video was 100x better than anything else out there. Now I actually understand what the heck activated carbon is, and how to make it. Awesome content. Subscribed. :)

[UdderlyEvelyn]

Wanted to learn to do this today and kept finding people echoing the steps in a way that I know can't work, then I see Cody, and am grateful someone I can trust to do it right has. ❤

[FhtagnCthulhu]

Cody has done some crazy unpleasant stuff for the channel, but a titration? Willingly? What a madman!

[MiixDJ]

3:15 "Accidentally ingest a poison..."
OH BOY! A crazy video coming soon!

[RetrogradeBeats]

You perform the most sketchy yet professional experiments

[PhilJonesIII]

Super memories here. My first job was with a company making smokeless fuel. Our lab did everything from tar-analysis to pollution measurement to weather-recording (wind direction records were used to measure dust-particle fallout from chimneys). That was all back in the 70s when virtually everything was gravimetric. Weighing scales, the ones that used counterweights and burettes were daily tools.

Titration of multiple samples was incredibly boring but more than compensated for with our sample collecting. Taking water samples from rivers included measuring its flowrate. Dust sampling units were scattered over a wide area and the wind-direction data allowed us to map the deposition rates.


This video mentioned water-gas. We produced a good amount of that and its a rare thing to hear about.


I loved that work and the people that did it.

[oleg]

I really like this hands-on approach to explaining how the process works on a microscopic level.

It makes the explanation intuitive without leaving out important details such as the effect of kinetics and impurities on the reaction.

[roniniowa]

Cody, I just wanted to express my appreciation for your videos. I always learn something

[Aaron-fhhd]

Really like the clay model, Really good for visualizing the actual reaction.

[antalkaminskiy]

Loving that new format, more explaining, nicely done!

[metrosideros_e]

I still consider this one of the best science videos on youtube. I've worked with charcoal and biochar for a few years and this was when I first saw it last year and still is the best analysis of charcoal or activated carbon out there. Thanks for doing this stuff dude.

[MorrisonScotch]

Big piece of advice on making this product.
When sifting run a magnet though the powder. This will remove metals. Use this especially if buying store bought charcoal. It will pick up rust and sometimes through the process of manufacturers a decent amount of metals can get into the charcoal since it is is compressed powdered charcoal you never really know what's in it. If your magnet picks up a lot of metals scrap it and start over.

[blorp]

Can you make more vids of the sealed terrarium you made ?

[runforitman]

I love this so much
Not just a method of how to make activated carbon
But also a test to find exactly how activated it is

[gergc]

Cody, have you ever thought about planting morel mushroom spores around your garden? Considering the advances made in cultivation and its sale price of 80 dollars a pound it would be interesting. The yard you have looks ideal for it.

EDIT: the yard at your house. Not so good at the ranch unless you're there almost every day in the spring.

[dewaynewhitney]

I've been trying to find a good way to make that. So thank you that I came across your video on this. I was close to just stop trying. You can can get a new paint can with the lid, put really small holes in the lid like 2 or 3 in center of lid and put it in the middle of your bon fire or pit fire to make your own biochar. If I want a lot more I just go over to my brother's place and he makes gallons of it at a time. It takes him around 4 to 5 hours to make a big batch. He uses I for his gardens and his fruit trees and stuff along with dissolved fish water. His stuff grows fast and bigger than the weeds can do. Lol.

[daves]

After seeing several videos on "making" activated charcoal, it seems not one had an idea of what the heck the process involves. But this guy here knows what the hell he is doing. Subscribed.