How to Build Your Own Carbon Filter？

Carbon filters play an important role in any indoor cultivation environment. Aside from growing tents, these devices are also found in air conditioning and furnaces where they help to capture contaminants while allowing clean air to pass through. When it comes to growing cannabis, the “contaminants” in focus are aromatic terpenes. Although these pleasant molecules determine the taste and effects of cannabis, they also unleash a mighty smell!carbon powder

These filters feature layers of activated carbon, a form of carbon treated to features small, low volume pores. These small holes vastly increase the surface area of the filter, which provides much more space for chemical reactions and filtration to take place.

Carbon filters use the principle of adsorption—the adhesion of molecules to a surface—to scrub the terpene-rich air found in grow tents. Because activated carbon possesses a greatly enhanced surface, it serves as the perfect substance for the job. To put things into perspective, a single gram of active carbon features a surface area of 3,000m²!

To ensure terpenes pass through the filter, growers need to create a vacuum in the grow space. Exhaust fans that match the requirements of the carbon filter in use will drag air through the device and out of the grow tent. Adequate suction will force all of the terpene-rich air through the filter, preventing any from leaking out of the sides of the grow tent.

As the smelly air passes through the filter at the correct speed, the active carbon will capture airborne terpenes while allowing other molecules to pass through, preventing the obvious smell of cannabis from seeping out of the grow tent. By attaching ducting to the external outlet of the exhaust fan, growers can direct odourless air out of the nearest window or ventilation shaft.coal based activated carbon manufacturers