# Activated Charcoal



## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

Curious how many other preppers keep activated charcoal on hand? Seems to me to be a vital resource to have on hand during a crisis and has so many uses... primarily involved with water purification and good health. Many are accustomed to seeing it used for water filtration and I keep a 5 lb bucket of the granulated form on hand for such a use. Our typical water filtration devices, such as Sawyer do a good job of removing harmful things from the water but don't usually remove the foul smell sometimes associated with standing water. If you add activated charcoal filtration, that will make the water smell better and also helps remove some additional toxins from the water. I keep a couple of pounds of the powdered form for health benefits. It can be applied externally to a wound or ingested. It removes toxins from the body and works great for issues such as food poisoning, toxin poison and drug overdose.

Keep in mind activated charcoal is a completely different item than regular charcoal. Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, is a form of carbon processed to have small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions. It is this extra processing of the charcoal that makes this product so adsorbent. Yes, adsorb... not absorb. Absorption is the process in which a fluid is dissolved by a liquid or a solid (absorbent). Adsorption is the process in which atoms, ions or molecules from a substance (it could be gas, liquid or dissolved solid) adhere to a surface of the adsorbent.

This little refillable device will work with many of our filtration devices.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007U0184/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

I keep smaller amounts on hand for the people/critters in case of poison, but hadn't thought to keep some for filtration - didn't even know you could buy it in larger quantities. Where do you get yours?


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

I have two large cartons of activated charcoal I picked up from the fish aisle at our local pet store.
Someone previously expressed concern that this may allow for bacterial growth, as this product may not be sterile.
I'm personally not worried. If/when it gets put into use, the water will be passing through sufficiently redundant filters that the chance of biological objects reaching the final "clean" end will be effectively zero.


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## Redneck (Oct 6, 2016)

indie said:


> I keep smaller amounts on hand for the people/critters in case of poison, but hadn't thought to keep some for filtration - didn't even know you could buy it in larger quantities. Where do you get yours?


Here is where I get mine. This link is just the bulk granular. You can search their site for all different forms of it.

https://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/buy-bulk-activated-charcoal/granular-activated-charcoal.html



















Here is the food grade powdered version I get.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LT296A8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## indie (Sep 7, 2013)

Thanks, I bookmarked it!


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

I have three 5 gallon buckets on hand of fine mesh, forget sizing.

It serves two primary functions, first is for a large sand/charcoal water filter.

The second is for my still filter.

Now I also have coarser grain for the air filter unit.


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