Activated carbon for removing formaldehyde

I believe everyone is familiar with formaldehyde. Newly renovated homes or some industrial waste gases, decoration materials, etc. will release formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is a toxic substance. If you inhale too much formaldehyde, it may cause cancer, respiratory diseases, leukemia, etc. Therefore, if you are eager to move into a newly renovated home, many people will choose to use activated carbon to remove formaldehyde. But can activated carbon really remove formaldehyde?

1. Can activated carbon remove formaldehyde?

I believe that many people will choose activated carbon, which is also a physical method that uses adsorption to absorb indoor formaldehyde to provide everyone with a safer living environment. Of course, activated carbon is both useful and not useful. It can only do it on the surface but not in depth.

2. Reasons why activated carbon cannot completely remove formaldehyde

1. Activated carbon is a static adsorption method and can only capture free formaldehyde around the activated carbon. It can only wait for the formaldehyde in the air to diffuse.

2. The affinity coefficient of activated carbon to formaldehyde is too low. If the affinity coefficient to benzene is 1, the affinity coefficient of activated carbon to formaldehyde is only 0.52. The removal of formaldehyde by activated carbon is a physical adsorption, which only adsorbs formaldehyde inside itself to reduce the concentration of formaldehyde in the room.

3. Activated carbon can effectively capture large molecular gases. Formaldehyde particles are nanometer-sized, so activated carbon is basically ineffective in capturing formaldehyde. It is still effective for capturing odors in places such as the kitchen.

4. Activated carbon adsorption is not targeted. It can absorb all gases, including benzene, ammonia, TVOC, etc., and some odors. It is basically saturated, and the proportion of formaldehyde is very low.

5. After the activated carbon is saturated with adsorption, if the temperature rises, the adsorbed formaldehyde will be released again, which will make the formaldehyde concentration in the room higher. This secondary pollution is very serious. The formaldehyde concentration is already above the standard, and the activated carbon releases some of it, which is just adding fuel to the fire.