How To Make Activated Charcoal, And Why You Should!

Activated charcoal boasts a multitude of survival and homesteading uses. The charcoal smolders instead of burns with a flame like wood does, making it a viable alternative to tossing a log on the fire when sight discipline is a concern.

Carbon, which is what activated charcoal is made of, is also a primary component in the water filtration process. Carbon does not remove the salts or minerals present in water but does effectively filter potentially harmful organic compounds and chlorine from the liquid.

Activated charcoal can also be used to treat acute poisoning. It binds together with the poison to help prevent the stomach and intestines from absorbing the harmful matter. The charcoal also helps the poison to quickly pass through the body. If the individual is poisoned with an acid that stems from petroleum or alkali, do not use activated carbon as an emergency treatment.

Constructing an activated charcoal water filtration system is both a quick and easy process and can be done on a small scale in a plastic water bottle, or on a larger scale inside a plastic barrel to filter a larger amount of water. Powdered charcoal can be used in place of the activated variety when none is available, but it is often regarded as being far less effective.

How to Make Activated Charcoal

1. Gathering a dense hardwood for use in making the charcoal is the first and perhaps the most important step in the process. The more dense the wood, the more charcoal you will make. Do not use pressure-treated lumber for making the activated carbon. The lumber contains chemicals that make the charcoal unsafe for poison treatment, cooking, and most definitely unfit for water filtration.
2. After gathering the wood, chop it into blocks or chips. Chop the wood as uniformly as possible so the blocks or chips will “cook” at the same rate. The bigger the wood blocks, the longer it will take to reduce the material to charcoal form.
3. Heat the wood in a pot with a lid. Heating the wood chips in a space with an absence of oxygen is key. You should use a cast iron pot if possible. If you can, drill about three small holes into the bottom of the pan to enhance the heating process. This allows a few of the blocks on the bottom to actually ignite. Drilling the holes is not absolutely necessary; the heating process will just go more slowly without the presence of the holes. The ignited chips or blocks will ultimately be reduced to ashes and not become activated charcoal.
4. Hang the pot directly over a live fire and cover loosely with the lid. Smoke that is either white or light gray will appear rather quickly. The smoke is produced from the compounds in the wood and water vapor. When the smoke begins to resemble a tan color, put the lid on tightly and keep the fire beneath stoked.
5. The level of smoke flowing from the pot will dissipate after several hours. When this happens, place the pot directly onto the fire and pile hot coals around the cook pot. If you can cover the entire pot with ashes and dirt, that is ideal. Allow the pot to continue to cool for at least four more hours or overnight.
6. If making activated charcoal without a pot, simply wrap the wood chips or small blocks in aluminum foil. No foil handy in your survival situation? No problem. Place small pieces of wood you have chopped or shaved from a log over a fire and get them burning. Once they are burning pretty good, like getting ready to roast hot dogs on a camping trip good, cover the chips with dirt or sand. Leave a vent hole at the top to form a volcano-type mound.
7. After waiting about two hours, carefully dig into the pile and feel around to find your pieces of activated charcoal.
8. If you find some pieces that still remain in their original wood state, the pot was not allowed to cook long enough. If the wood pieces are covered with a substantial amount of ash, the pot got too much air. When properly cooked, the activated charcoal should be very black in color, lightweight, and easily crumble in your hand.

How to Make an Emergency Charcoal Water Filter

1. Once the activated charcoal has cooled completely, crush the bricks into small pieces. The pieces should be about the same size as fish aquarium gravel.
2. Use a clean plastic bottle or fashion a cylindrical item from tree bark or other contamination-free and relatively clean material found in your surroundings. If using a plastic bottle, cut off the bottom so that both ends of the container now have openings.
3. Push grass or a clean fabric through the smaller opening until it is packed tightly. If both ends of your container or cylinder are the same size, just choose one to hold the filler that will prevent the charcoal from falling out. If the bottle cap to the bottle is available, you can poke a small hole through the middle and place it back onto the bottle after the filler material has been put into place. Fill about one fourth of the container with the grass or fabric.
4. Firmly pack the crushed charcoal into the container until it is packed as tightly as possible. You want the water to have to drip through the charcoal as slowly as possible so the water is filtered as thoroughly as possible. Fill the container up to the halfway mark with the charcoal.
5. On top of the charcoal layer, push a few inches of grass and/or sand or another piece of fabric to keep the activated carbon firmly in place as the water is poured into the container.
6. Place the container, narrow opening or grass end down, into the mouth of a clean jar or the pot that will be used to boil the water. Handle the container carefully so the layers are not disturbed.
7. Pour the water in slowly and allow it to drip at its own pace into the new container. You should repeat this step about three times to make sure the water is filtered as much as possible before boiling.
8. Bring the water to a boil and allow it to remain at a boiling temperature for several minutes to make sure it has been adequately sterilized.

Allow the water to cool before drinking. If sterilizing medical equipment or bandages with the water, make sure to thoroughly disinfect the pot before using it again to make drinking water.