Moldy active carbon pyrolysis reactivation?
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:19 am
I had 10kg of active carbon accidentally left sitting in moist state over winter and the stuff got significant mold growth all over it.
Chemically cleaning it seems to be ungood option because it should be done under very high pressures unobtainable in home environment.
Although what I was thinking was doing a simple pyrolysis on the carbon. I would put it in a large old kettle with a lid and weight on it so it prevents any significant amounts of air getting in the pot, insulating it a little bit with rockwool and using high pressure gas burner to heat it up to red heat(600-900C). This would first dry it completely, then destroy any organic residue turning them into gases and carbon and it should also result in complete destruction of any mold spores or growth. Finally the cooled carbon would be washed with pure water. This is close to the process used in industry for reactivating carbon. I've done some metal heat treatment and carburizing the same way and see no reason this should not work. The minimal amount of carbon monoxide evolved should not be an issue since the process must be done in well ventilated firework environment anyways. Yes, it would be easier to just buy new carbon, but the lot is quite large costing nearly 50 bucks to replace and I've got all the equipment on hand.
Chemically cleaning it seems to be ungood option because it should be done under very high pressures unobtainable in home environment.
Although what I was thinking was doing a simple pyrolysis on the carbon. I would put it in a large old kettle with a lid and weight on it so it prevents any significant amounts of air getting in the pot, insulating it a little bit with rockwool and using high pressure gas burner to heat it up to red heat(600-900C). This would first dry it completely, then destroy any organic residue turning them into gases and carbon and it should also result in complete destruction of any mold spores or growth. Finally the cooled carbon would be washed with pure water. This is close to the process used in industry for reactivating carbon. I've done some metal heat treatment and carburizing the same way and see no reason this should not work. The minimal amount of carbon monoxide evolved should not be an issue since the process must be done in well ventilated firework environment anyways. Yes, it would be easier to just buy new carbon, but the lot is quite large costing nearly 50 bucks to replace and I've got all the equipment on hand.