substance obtained by partial burning or destructive distillation of organic material. It is
largely pure carbon . The most common variety, wood charcoal, was formerly prepared
by piling wood into stacks, covering it with earth or turf, and setting it on fire. In this
process volatile compounds in the wood (e.g., water) pass off as vapors into the air,
some of the carbon is consumed as fuel, and the rest of the carbon is converted into
charcoal. In the modern method, wood is raised to a high temperature in an iron retort,
and industrially important byproducts, e.g., methanol (wood alcohol), acetone, and
acetic acid, are saved by condensing them to their liquid form. Charcoal, being almost
pure carbon, yields a larger amount of heat in proportion to its volume than is obtained
from a corresponding quantity of wood; as a fuel it has the further advantage of being
smokeless. Charcoal is also obtained from substances other than wood; that obtained
from bones is called bone black, animal black, or animal charcoal. Because of its
porous structure, finely divided charcoal is a highly efficient agent for filtering the
adsorption of gases and of solids from solution. It is used in sugar refining, in water
purification, in the purification of factory air, and in gas masks. By special heating or
chemical processes the adsorptive property can be greatly increased; charcoal so
treated is known as activated charcoal.
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Homestead health: The many uses of activated charcoal
Date: 05/01/1999 ; Reading Level: 8.
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal ;...