Activated Carbon Filter for Medical Pure Water Equipment and Its Maintenance

Medical pure water equipment is a water treatment system that provides different water quality treatments for various departments in hospitals and is widely used in hospitals today. Today, we'll introduce a basic pretreatment step in medical pure water equipment—activated carbon. Activated carbon is commonly used for water pretreatment, acting as a filter. So, what role does this "filter" play and how is it maintained? Let's find out:

Activated Carbon Filter

① What is the function of an activated carbon filter?

The main function of an activated carbon filter is to remove large molecular organic matter, iron oxides, and residual chlorine. Organic matter, residual chlorine, and iron oxides can easily poison ion exchange resins, while residual chlorine and cationic surfactants not only poison the resin but also damage the membrane structure, causing reverse osmosis membrane failure. 

② Why Maintain Activated Carbon Filters?

Activated carbon filters utilize the abundant capillary pores of activated carbon to adsorb and filter large organic molecules, residual chlorine, iron oxides, and other colloidal substances in water. This adsorption is irreversible; activated carbon has a certain saturation adsorption capacity. Once saturated, the activated carbon loses its adsorption capacity and cannot be backwashed to remove contaminants. Furthermore, after adsorbing organic matter, activated carbon provides abundant nutrients for bacteria, causing them to multiply rapidly within the activated carbon filter. Consequently, the microbial content in the water actually increases after activated carbon filtration.

③ How to Maintain Activated Carbon Filters?

Before the activated carbon becomes saturated, perform regular backwashing to flush out the large number of bacterial clusters and suspended solids on the surface of the activated carbon. Once the activated carbon becomes saturated, it should be replaced immediately with new activated carbon; otherwise, irreparable damage to the reverse osmosis membrane will occur.