The purification of drinking water has for many years been one of the major uses of activated carbon, where it is used to remove traces of unwanted impurities and ensure the water has no adverse taste/odour.
This sector has always been an important one for us here at Puragen.
The activated carbons used by the water industry are typically either in a powdered form (PAC) or granular (GAC). The main advantage of using a granular activated carbon for liquid phase purification applications is that, once the carbon is ‘spent’ and needs exchanging, the used material can be efficiently and safely recycled via a process called thermal reactivation.
Since 2018, we have operated a reactivation kiln at our site in Immingham Lincs. that is dedicated to the processing of spent carbons from municipal drinking water facilities. The site also has a second kiln for handling spent carbons from ‘industrial’ applications (e.g. biogas, remediation, VOCs abatement, wastewater etc), but this operation is kept completely separate from the ‘potable water’ facility, to avoid any cross-contamination. The regeneration of spent carbon in this way offers a considerable saving in terms of cost and environmental footprint, compared with the use of new/virgin activated carbon.
So, next time you turn on the tap, spare a thought for the role that activated carbon has played to help ensure the water you drink is of the highest possible quality!
In addition to high quality FiltraCarb® activated carbon and our Regen-Sys® reactivation service, we can also supply drinking water customers with a range of AquaSorber® mobile carbon filter units, which are manufactured in-house by our engineering subsidiary Puragen Icon. We have a ‘potable only’ sub-fleet of mobile carbon vessels, with stainless steel pipework and approved linings.
For more information about any of our products or services, please get in touch with the Puragen team.
