Can activated carbon filters reduce organic matter?

It does have a certain adsorption effect, but it’s not very significant. In our company, the COD level of water that has passed through activated carbon filters – which can indirectly indicate the amount of organic matter present – can be reduced by about 1 unit. Therefore, we hope that activated carbon will play a significant role in this process. Since activated carbon is fragile, it’s best to avoid using gas for cleaning; it’s sufficient to simply stir the activated carbon during backwashing. When backwashing activated carbon, it’s important to control the pressure carefully.

The main function of an activated carbon filter is to remove large molecular organic substances, iron oxides, and residual chlorine. Organic matter, residual chlorine, and iron oxides can poison ion exchange resins, while residual chlorine, cationic surfactants, and others not only poison the resins but also damage the membrane structure, causing the reverse osmosis membrane to fail. 　　　　Its adsorption principle is as follows: an equilibrium surface concentration is formed on the surface of its particles, which then enables organic impurities to be adsorbed into the activated carbon particles; the adsorption efficiency is very high at the beginning of use. However, over time, the adsorption capacity of activated carbon decreases to varying degrees, and its adsorption efficiency also declines as a result. If the water quality in the aquarium is poor and the organic matter content is high, the activated carbon will quickly lose its filtering capacity. Therefore, activated carbon should be cleaned or replaced regularly. 　　　　An activated carbon filter utilizes the numerous capillaries present in activated carbon to adsorb and filter out large molecular organic substances, residual chlorine, iron oxides, and other colloidal particles from water. This adsorption process is irreversible; that is, activated carbon has a certain capacity for saturated adsorption, and once it reaches this saturation point, it loses its adsorption capacity, and the pollutants cannot be removed through backwashing. Furthermore, after activated carbon adsorbs organic matter, it provides abundant nutrients for bacteria, leading to their massive proliferation within the activated carbon filter; as a result, the microbial content in the water actually increases after passing through the activated carbon filter. 　　　　Before the activated carbon becomes saturated with adsorption, backwashing should be carried out regularly to flush out the large amounts of microbial masses and suspended solids on its surface. Once the activated carbon becomes saturated with adsorbents, it should be replaced immediately with new activated carbon; otherwise, it will cause irreparable damage to the reverse osmosis membrane. 　　　　An activated carbon filter pressure vessel is a type of pressure vessel filled with a layer of coarse quartz sand and high-quality activated carbon. 　　　　Function: In water quality pretreatment systems, activated carbon filters can absorb residual chlorine that cannot be removed by previous filtration stages, thereby preventing the subsequent reverse osmosis membranes from being oxidized and degraded. They also capture various polluting substances such as small molecular organic compounds that leak from earlier filtration stages. These filters have a significant effect on removing unwanted odors, colloids, pigments, heavy metal ions, and COD from water. The SDI value of the RO feed water can be further reduced to ensure proper SDI levels

The above description is quite detailed! @

The function of activated carbon is to remove a portion of organic substances, and its effectiveness is indeed notable; however, it cannot remove all of them. Moreover, it needs to be replaced after being used for a certain period of time. We have encountered customers who said they had carbon filters, but the anion resins became contaminated quite quickly. Upon inspection, it was found that the COD level at the outlet of the carbon filters was much higher than that at the inlet – apparently, those carbon filters hadn’t been replaced in many years. So, be careful.

Additionally, if it is observed that the anionic resin becomes contaminated by organic substances quite quickly, our company’s 213 strong-alkali anionic resin could be considered; this resin has a high resistance to organic contamination and is commonly used in water purification systems for surface water (reservoirs).

It works, but it can’t completely remove it