Greetings, fellow carbon-based life forms! I was reading in a couple of different threads about the uses of activated charcoal and how you really should have some in your emergency first aid kit; and about how it's really hard to make. Actually, it isn't all that hard to make, just tedious, and not something you want to do in the basement.
Charcoal is made from heating wood in a low-oxygen environment. The heat drives off all the moisture and hydrocarbons (wood gas) in the wood, leaving just carbon (charcoal). To activate the charcoal, you treat it with acid and heat it again.
Check out YouTube and you'll find half-a-dozen or so videos on making your own charcoal cooker. Some of these are just for making charcoal (very useful if you like to pound dull steel into sharp, pointy things) (also useful if you want to make your own black powder, but that's another post); others are primarily for making wood gas to run cars and trucks.
The common features are: 1. being able to seal up the container so that air doesn't get into the oven (otherwise the wood burns, not chars), and 2. a small hole or tube to allow the wood gas to escape so you don't have a pressure bomb.
If you're making activated charcoal, in the end you're going to want to grind the result into a powder, so start with small pieces of wood. I know someone who swears by old pallets. They're easy to cut into small pieces and they char very well. (If you're planning on using the activated charcoal for filtering water, apparently coconut shells are the best. Where to find large numbers of coconut shells in, say, Minnesota, is YOUR problem.)
Put the wood into your cooker, seal it up, and light a fire underneath it. As it heats, you'll see steam/wood gas come out of the small hole. After the steam starts coming out, cook the wood for at least 4 hours -- you'll have to experiment to see how long it will take depending on the amount of wood, etc. After 4 or 5 hours, take the cooker off the heat and let it cool naturally. You'll want to make sure it's thoroughly cool before opening it because otherwise the char inside will burst into flame when the oxygen hits it.
After it's cooled and you've opened it up to expose the charcoal, test a few pieces to make sure they've charred all the way through. If not, you can still use that batch for burning but not for making into activated charcoal; and remember to cook it longer next time. If all you're looking for is charcoal to make black powder, or charcoal to burn in your forge, you're done. Otherwise, read on.
Here's where it gets tricky. Get some battery acid from your local auto supply store. Using a glass pan, plastic or rubber tongs, rubber gloves, goggles, and all the other safety equipment you can muster, pour the acid into the glass pan. Then carefully place each piece of charcoal into the acid and let it soak for four or five minutes. Remove each piece from the acid, let it drain a bit, then put it back into the cooker.
When all the pieces have been treated, seal the cooker back up, put it back on the heat, and cook the charcoal for another 4 hours or so. Let the cooker cool, open it up, grind up the pieces, and you've got activated charcoal.
If you're not into all that waiting and cooking, you can buy activated charcoal at a tropical fish supply store (make sure it's JUST the charcoal, and nothing else.) If you're planning on using the charcoal for water filtration, etc., though, you may find it more cost effective to burn your own.
Charcoal is made from heating wood in a low-oxygen environment. The heat drives off all the moisture and hydrocarbons (wood gas) in the wood, leaving just carbon (charcoal). To activate the charcoal, you treat it with acid and heat it again.
Check out YouTube and you'll find half-a-dozen or so videos on making your own charcoal cooker. Some of these are just for making charcoal (very useful if you like to pound dull steel into sharp, pointy things) (also useful if you want to make your own black powder, but that's another post); others are primarily for making wood gas to run cars and trucks.
The common features are: 1. being able to seal up the container so that air doesn't get into the oven (otherwise the wood burns, not chars), and 2. a small hole or tube to allow the wood gas to escape so you don't have a pressure bomb.
If you're making activated charcoal, in the end you're going to want to grind the result into a powder, so start with small pieces of wood. I know someone who swears by old pallets. They're easy to cut into small pieces and they char very well. (If you're planning on using the activated charcoal for filtering water, apparently coconut shells are the best. Where to find large numbers of coconut shells in, say, Minnesota, is YOUR problem.)
Put the wood into your cooker, seal it up, and light a fire underneath it. As it heats, you'll see steam/wood gas come out of the small hole. After the steam starts coming out, cook the wood for at least 4 hours -- you'll have to experiment to see how long it will take depending on the amount of wood, etc. After 4 or 5 hours, take the cooker off the heat and let it cool naturally. You'll want to make sure it's thoroughly cool before opening it because otherwise the char inside will burst into flame when the oxygen hits it.
After it's cooled and you've opened it up to expose the charcoal, test a few pieces to make sure they've charred all the way through. If not, you can still use that batch for burning but not for making into activated charcoal; and remember to cook it longer next time. If all you're looking for is charcoal to make black powder, or charcoal to burn in your forge, you're done. Otherwise, read on.
Here's where it gets tricky. Get some battery acid from your local auto supply store. Using a glass pan, plastic or rubber tongs, rubber gloves, goggles, and all the other safety equipment you can muster, pour the acid into the glass pan. Then carefully place each piece of charcoal into the acid and let it soak for four or five minutes. Remove each piece from the acid, let it drain a bit, then put it back into the cooker.
When all the pieces have been treated, seal the cooker back up, put it back on the heat, and cook the charcoal for another 4 hours or so. Let the cooker cool, open it up, grind up the pieces, and you've got activated charcoal.
If you're not into all that waiting and cooking, you can buy activated charcoal at a tropical fish supply store (make sure it's JUST the charcoal, and nothing else.) If you're planning on using the charcoal for water filtration, etc., though, you may find it more cost effective to burn your own.