About Activated Charcoal

What is activated charcoal?

Activated Charcoal is pure carbon, and is considered the most adsorptive material in the world.

Incredibly, one gram of charcoal has the surface area of 500 to 1500sq metres, and each particle of charcoal has millions of tiny airspaces. These spaces allow activated charcoal to adsorb many times its own weight of poisons, toxins and harmful chemicals and allowing them to be flushed from the body.

There are only 3 grades of charcoal that can be taken internally – coconut shell, bamboo, and untreated hardwood, such as teak..

How does Activated Charcoal work?

Activated charcoal functions by means of a process known as adsorption, which is an electrical-type magnetic action, rather than absorption, which is more of a mechanical-type action. The activated charcoal is negatively charged and so attracts matter which is positively charged, such as toxins, chemicals and body wastes. Vitamins and nutrients are negatively charged, so are therefore not affected by activated charcoal. Pure Eden’s Activated Charcoal is produced from coconut shells, and is only available in powdered form. The absorption by the body is twice as effective as tablets or capsules, due to the fact that no fillers or binders are used in the production processes. Activated charcoal is a manufactured product and does not occur naturally in foods.

The activation process

Charcoal is twice as effective if goes through an activation process. Studies have shown that steam activation is one of the best ways of activating charcoal.

 

In this process the carbon, obtained from the coconut husks, is heated in a furnace which is free of oxygen, at a temperature of between 600 and 1200 degrees centigrade.

The manufacturing process

During this process, all the volatile compounds are removed, and many layers of carbon atoms are peeled off. This expands the internal pores of the charcoal, leaving behind a carbon skeleton.

The more the internal porous space expands, the greater the absorption potential of the activated charcoal becomes. Once the process of producing the activated charcoal is completed, the charcoal is cooled and washed to remove any lingering ash content.