Carbon Filter Vs Bio-Oxygen: lets examine how carbon filters stack up against the Bio-Oxygen process. Carbon Block Filters or Carbon Granule Filters are often used to remove Odours, Gases and Chemicals.
Carbon Blocks are shaped like a house brick and have pores like wormholes. The wormholes go from side to side through the carbon block. The carbon blocks are stacked one on top of another like a brick wall. A powerful fan either sucks or blows the polluted air through the carbon filter.
Carbon must be kept dry
The next chapter of the Carbon Filter Vs Bio-Oxygen store is about carbon itself. Carbon must be kept dry because once the pores of the carbon fill with water, they cannot hold gases as well. The pores can either hold water or gas but they cannot hold both.
For this reason, a Dehumidifier is required for a Carbon Filter installation to keep the carbon dry. The dehumidifier must have the same capacity as the ventilation fan. Without a dehumidifier, a carbon filter would be virtually useless.
Contact Time
As the Odours, Gases and Chemicals flow through a Carbon Granule Filter Bed, they make contact with the carbon and are absorbed into the pores of the carbon, so the theory goes. The minimum required contact time for the odours and gases to be absorbed into the carbon is 0.20 seconds, provided that the carbon is dry. If the pores of the carbon are already full of water then, the carbon can’t hold odours and gases as well.
However, the problem is that as the polluted air is blown through the carbon granule bed. In this process the air follows the path of least resistance and therefore the polluted air tends to flow along the gaps around the granules. Rather than through the pores of the carbon granules. For this reason, carbon granule filters only have a relatively low efficiency. As far as Carbon Filter Vs Bio-Oxygen goes, Bio Oxygen is coming out in front.
Temperature
Gases expand and contract depending on temperature. Therefore, the capacity of the carbon to hold gases in the pores of the carbon depends on the temperature of the exhaust gases and the environmental temperature. As the temperature goes up, the trapped gases in the pores of the carbon expand. Once expanded the gasses get squeezed out of the pores.
Some of the odours and gases that are absorbed during the night are squeezed out again during the day. The higher the temperature of the exhaust gases, the lower the absorption capacity of the carbon filter will be. With carbon filters, the temperature of the exhaust gases should be kept
(a) constant and
(b) as low as possible. Ideally below 30 C, however, in reality this is not always possible.
Airborne Particulates block Pinholes
The pores of carbon are very easily blocked by airborne particulates and once a pore is blocked, it cannot absorb any more odours and gases. Gradually, as more and more of the pores are blocked, the odour absorption capacity of the carbon is accordingly impaired. It is only a question of time before most the pores are blocked and the odour absorption capacity of the carbon comes virtually to an end. The pores are usually blocked before the carbon has reached its maximum absorption capacity.
Bio-Oxygen Process
Thinking about the Carbon Filter Vs Bio-Oxygen argument, the Bio Oxygen process is more efficient. By comparison, the Bio-Oxygen Process injects Oxygen Clusters into the exhaust stack. The Oxygen Clusters react with the Odours, Gases and Chemicals in the exhaust duct in seconds. The higher the pressure in the exhaust duct, the faster the reaction will be.
Usually, the pressure in an exhaust duct is quite high. In a Bio- Oxygen installation, Oxygen Cluster Air is injected into the Polluted Exhaust Air. The Oxygen Cluster Pipe and the Exhaust Pipe merge into one Duct where the reaction takes place. The Bio-Oxygen Process causes a chemical reaction between the Oxygen Clusters and the odours, gases and chemicals.
The Bio-Oxygen Process works at the molecular level. Carbon Filters are a negative odour treatment because they only absorb odours and don’t actually change or do anything to the odours and chemicals themselves. The performance and efficiency of a Carbon Filter is on a declining curve whereas the Bio-Oxygen Process remains constant for the duration of the service period.
