One of the very best things that you can do to remove common household odors from the air is to use a Charcoal Based Activated Carbon filter, like the ones we include with every MinusA2 or BioGS air purifier. These filters are packed with pellets of charcoal that are capable of removing all sorts of household odors and chemical VOCs out of the air. What makes these little pellets so powerful? A process called activation, where each piece of charcoal gets heated to incredibly high temperatures, causing them to become extremely porous. After this process, each pellet can have an internal surface area the size of a football field! It is this large surface area that allows the charcoal to adsorb odors and chemicals. When these impurities pass through the filter, they are attracted to the carbon and bind to it. Having a large surface area means that each pellet has the space to bind a large amount of impurities, making these filters long lasting and very efficient.
Activated carbon is great for more than just filtering the air and it is used in many other instances where purification is required. Many households use filters with activated carbon to filter out particles or unpleasant tastes from their drinking water. Aquarium owners use activated carbon to filter water too, in their tank filtration systems so that they can remove impurities that may harm their finned friends. Commercially, activated carbon has been used in many surprising applications, from the decaffeination of coffee to the purification of gold. Activated carbon has even saved lives, as it is used in hospitals as a treatment for some kinds of poisoning!
