What Is Copper-Impregnated Activated Carbon?

The core principle is a combination of:

1. Activated carbon's physical adsorption capacity: Its large surface area allows for efficient enrichment of target molecules.
2. Copper's chemical activity: Copper species can undergo catalytic oxidation, chemical adsorption, or complexation reactions with specific pollutants, thereby converting or firmly adsorbing them.

Key Features and Benefits

1. Highly Selective Adsorption: It exhibits extremely high adsorption capacity and selectivity for specific gases (such as H₂S, PH₃, and AsH₃).
2. Catalytic Oxidation: It not only adsorbs but also catalyzes the conversion of toxic gases into harmless or more manageable substances.
3. Antibacterial Properties: Copper ions possess potent bactericidal and antibacterial properties, making them useful for microbial control in water purification or air filtration.
4. Synergistic effect: Physical adsorption and chemical reaction work together, resulting in a far higher efficiency than physical adsorption alone.

Main Applications
Due to its unique properties, copper-impregnated activated carbon is widely used in the following areas:

1. Toxic gas purification (a core application)

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) removal: Used in biogas purification, natural gas processing, wastewater treatment plant exhaust, rubber plant exhaust, and other applications. The mechanism is catalytic oxidation: CuO catalytically oxidizes H₂S to elemental sulfur (S) or sulfate (SO₄²⁻), which is then adsorbed in the pores.
CuO + H₂S → CuS + H₂O (copper sulfide is formed first)
CuS + O₂ → CuO + S (regenerated in the presence of oxygen)

Phosphine (PH₃) and Arsine (AsH₃) Removal: In the semiconductor, electronics, and metal smelting industries, it is used to purify protective gases (such as nitrogen and argon) and process exhaust gases to prevent highly toxic gases from damaging equipment and personnel.

        2.Air Purification

Used in gas masks, military, and industrial respirators specifically for protection against chemical warfare agents (such as mustard gas) and industrial toxic gases.

In indoor air purifiers, it is used to remove odors and low-concentration harmful gases.

   3.Water Treatment

Chlorine/Chloramine Removal: Copper activated carbon catalyzes the decomposition of residual chlorine and chloramines in water, protecting downstream equipment (such as reverse osmosis membranes) and improving taste.

Antibacterial: The released copper ions effectively kill bacteria and viruses in water, preventing the activated carbon filter from becoming a breeding ground for microorganisms.

Specific Pollutant Removal: It has a good adsorption effect on certain heavy metal ions (such as mercury) in water.

      4.Catalysis

Used as a catalyst or catalyst support in some organic synthesis reactions or low-temperature redox reactions.

Precautions
Copper Leaching: In water treatment applications, strict process control is required to ensure that copper ions do not dissolve excessively, leading to secondary contamination and excessive copper content in the water. This is usually addressed through a stable preparation process (such as high-temperature calcination to form stable CuO).

Cost: It is more expensive than ordinary activated carbon and is therefore generally used only in applications requiring its specialized properties.

Processing Conditions: Its adsorption capacity for specific gases is significantly affected by factors such as temperature, humidity, and oxygen content, which must be fully considered when designing the purification system.