Activated Carbon

Product Overview

Activated Carbon is the plating shop's standard bath-purification media for removing organic contamination - decomposed brighteners, drag-in oils, breakdown products and wetting-agent residues - from nickel, copper, zinc and tin solutions. Its internal surface area (typically 800-1200 m²/g) adsorbs organic molecules by the million, and one well-run carbon treatment can restore a hazy, pitted bath that new brightener additions cannot fix. Plating shops buy two physical forms for two different jobs: powdered carbon (200-325 mesh) for batch treatments - dumped into the tank at 2-5 g/L, agitated, settled and filtered out - and granular carbon (e.g. 4-8 or 8-30 mesh) for continuous side-stream polishing columns that keep organics low around the clock. The quality attributes that matter are iodine value (adsorption capacity), ash content, and - above all - acid-washed, low-metal grades: a non-acid-washed carbon can leach iron, zinc and calcium straight back into the very bath you are cleaning. Market grades for plating are coal- or coconut-based; coconut shell gives harder granules for columns, coal-based powder is the economical batch-treatment workhorse.

Product Identity (Encyclopaedia Card)

What it is and what it does. Activated carbon is the purifying agent used to strip organic contamination and brightener breakdown products from plating baths so that the deposit returns to its correct brightness and ductility.

• Black powder or granules with a very high internal surface area; dosed at 1-5 g/L for batch purification.
• Removes organic brightener residues, oil and the breakdown products that cause dark, brittle or patchy deposits.
• Must be filtered out completely after treatment, otherwise the carbon itself becomes a contamination source.

Typical Use in a Plating / Finishing Line

Safety, Handling & Storage

Quality Documents Shipped With Every Batch

Buyer Questions We Answer Every Week

Process Note: When a Bath Needs Carbon

Carbon removes organics indiscriminately - including the brighteners you paid for - so it should never be the first move. These signs on the Hull cell and on parts point to organic contamination:

If adding fresh additive to a Hull cell restores the bright range, the bath is merely under-dosed - carbon would waste the new brightener. If the fresh-additive panel stays hazy, carbon is the correct next step.

How to Run a Batch Carbon Treatment

For continuous protection, a side-stream column of granular carbon (5-10% of bath volume per hour through the column) keeps nickel and acid copper lines organically clean between batch treatments.

Quality Checks Before Use

How QLQ controls it: each activated-carbon lot is checked for iodine value, moisture and - critically - acid-leachable metals against a retained sample before release. QLQ ships only acid-washed grades for plating because a cheap non-washed lot can add more metal contamination than it removes; the COA records the leach result per lot.

Common Problems & Fixes (Workshop Table)

Handling & Safety

• Dust: carbon dust is a nuisance and a mild irritant; wear a dust mask and gloves when weighing and slurrying. Carbon dust in air can be an explosion hazard near ignition sources.
• Never mix with strong oxidizers: powdered carbon in hot chromic acid or concentrated nitric acid mixtures can react violently (heat of oxidation). Never carbon-treat hexavalent chromium baths with powder.
• Spills: wet carbon makes slippery floors; sweep dry material and dispose of treated carbon as hazardous waste (it holds adsorbed metals and organics).
• Storage: sealed cartons in a dry store. Carbon adsorbs moisture and odors from the air; a damp, opened carton loses capacity and weighs wrong.
• Disposal: spent carbon from metal baths is metal-bearing waste - send for regeneration or licensed disposal, never to the general waste skip if it carried nickel or copper.

What It Does on Iron, Zinc Alloy, Copper and Stainless Steel Parts

FAQ

Bath haze that brightener cannot fix? QLQ engineering helps plating shops in 10+ countries run carbon treatments and rebalance additives by Hull cell. Contact us with your panel photos.