recycling charcoal from filters

[maxmurder]

i heard bio char is like a reef for microbes to cling to.
is the charcoal from old filters the same? can you mix into soil for the bennies to grow? it would be nice to empty out the spent charcoal into soil beds and crush the filter before taking to the dump....

 

[Bongaloid]

I didn't read all of it, but this sounds like a yes: http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~dturney/...ion_Monitoring_Protection_Remediation/309.pdf

 

[trichrider]

the pores in the charcoal after retirement from filtering your grow would be filled, imo.

I think it would need to be re-activated to be beneficial, but it couldn't hurt to use it. thought about this many times.

...could you re-activate by heating? that is my thought, put it in a can and bake for a couple.
or put the filter into a fire, remove char and then use as amendment.

the small size is an advantage over normally produced biochar which usually requires crushing.

 

[BurnOne]

the pores in the charcoal after retirement from filtering your grow would be filled, imo.

I think it would need to be re-activated to be beneficial, but it couldn't hurt to use it. thought about this many times.

...could you re-activate by heating? that is my thought, put it in a can and bake for a couple.
or put the filter into a fire, remove char and then use as amendment.

the small size is an advantage over normally produced biochar which usually requires crushing.

Could you wash it?
Put it in a bucket with mild soapy water, rense it with plain water then dry it?
Just a thought.
Burn1

 

[Granger2]

I've got about 60+ lbs that my grow store guy gave me, and have not done anything with it for over a year. Can't figure if the pores are filled, and how to fix that. Wondering also about heat as a fix. -granger

 

[FatherEarth]

A quick search yielded this:

Recycling activated carbon.

If you remove the impurities in the used activated carbon, it can be re-used. You can recover up to 80% of its effectiveness, which in practice is 100%, since one seldom uses the carbon to its limit. In theory this can be done as many times as you like. If the carbon
is soft (e.g., peat carbon will degenerate with recycling), the grains become smaller every time. Hard varieties, like coconut or stone coal keep significantly better, and can be recycled hundreds of times.




There are two ways to recycle activated carbon:

1. With heat (thermal recycling)
2. With steam (steam recycling)




Recycling with heat within the industry is done as follows:

1. The carbon is dried.

2. It is then pre-heated so that the impurities in the carbon pores are carbonized.

3. The carbon is reactivated around 700-1000°C, when the carbonized impurities turn into gas and escape from the carbon. This is done in an oxygen-free environment to ensure that the carbon does not ignite. In this way, the pores become empty once again and the carbon can be reused.
It is not unusual for amateur distillers in some countries to heat recycle their activated carbon. The description is taken away
It is done as follows:
Note: the carbon contains mostly fusel oils whose highest boiling point is 138°C. Fusel oils are higher alcohols like amyl, butyl and propyl alcohols and their vapor is flammable.

1. Begin by pouring the carbon into a sieve and rinsing it with hot water from the tap. If the carbon grains are 0.4-0.85 mm, they will go right through an ordinary kitchen sieve when rinsed, so you must get a sieve with a finer mesh or omit this step entirely.

2. Then, boil the carbon in water for 10-15 minutes, to dissolve some of the higher alcohols (already it has a 15-20% regeneration). Boil as long as it smells. Repeat if needed.

3. The carbon is then dried in a deep baking dish or roasting tray. When the carbon has dried, it is placed in an electric oven. Note: keep the kitchen fan on and the window partly open, as the vapor can be flammable.

4. Turn the oven on to 140°C or 150°C and heat up the carbon for 2-3 hours.
5. Turn the oven off and let the carbon cool down – now it is ready to be used again.carbonized.




Remember that the impurities leaving the carbon when it is heated have a very bad smell. Also note that the danger of recycling carbon in the oven is that it can ignite. Carbon made from wood or peat ignites at approx. 200°C and stone carbon at approx. 400°C. Stone carbon can sometimes be recycled in the oven at 300-350°C if one wants to do so.

Im wondering if the terpenes trapped in the charcoal would have a negative impact on the microbes if we decided to use it without doing anything at all? I have about 5 charcoal filters sitting around collecting dust that need to either get tossed or recycled..

FE

 

[bigshrimp]

Its not going to hurt your soil but its not biochar either.

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

I'd chuck it because any mold spores, dust, fungi or pathogens in your room would be caught up in the pellets.

 

[trichrider]

i'd try cooking, the impurities and whatnot are usually trapped in the prefilter, and if not, then the heat would likely kill and or destroy the remainder.

I tried washing one with water and Clorox and it was destroyed.

try washing then cooking.

Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal, activated coal, or carbo activatus, is a form of carbon processed to be riddled with small, low-volume pores that increase the surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions.[1] Activated is sometimes substituted with active.

Due to its high degree of microporosity, just one gram of activated carbon has a surface area in excess of 500 m2, as determined by gas adsorption. An activation level sufficient for useful application may be attained solely from high surface area; however, further chemical treatment often enhances adsorption properties.

Activated carbon is usually derived from charcoal and increasingly, high-porosity biochar. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system.[2]

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


Thermal reactivation

The most common regeneration technique employed in industrial processes is thermal reactivation.[46] The thermal regeneration process generally follows three steps:[47]
Adsorbent drying at approximately 105 °C
High temperature desorption and decomposition (500–900°C) under an inert atmosphere
Residual organic gasification by an oxidising gas (steam or carbon dioxide) at elevated temperatures (800°C)

The heat treatment stage utilises the exothermic nature of adsorption and results in desorption, partial cracking and polymerization of the adsorbed organics. The final step aims to remove charred organic residue formed in the porous structure in the previous stage and re-expose the porous carbon structure regenerating its original surface characteristics. After treatment the adsorption column can be reused. Per adsorption-thermal regeneration cycle between 5–15 wt% of the carbon bed is burnt off resulting in a loss of adsorptive capacity.[48] Thermal regeneration is a high energy process due to the high required temperatures making it both an energetically and commercially expensive process.[47] Plants that rely on thermal regeneration of activated carbon have to be of a certain size before it is economically viable to have regeneration facilities onsite. As a result it is common for smaller waste treatment sites to ship their activated carbon cores to a specialised facility for regeneration, increasing the process' already significant carbon footprint.[49]

Other regeneration techniques

Current concerns with the high energy/cost nature of thermal regeneration of activated carbon has encouraged research into alternative regeneration methods to reduce the environmental impact of such processes. Though several of the regeneration techniques cited have remained areas of purely academic research, some alternatives to thermal regeneration systems have been employed in industry. Current alternative regeneration methods are:
Chemical and solvent regeneration[50]
Microbial regeneration[51]
Electrochemical regeneration[52]
Ultrasonic regeneration[53]
Wet air oxidation[54]

http://www.ask.com/wiki/Activated_c...com#Modification_of_properties_and_reactivity