Charcoal Water Filter (How To Make)
Homemade Water Filter
Our homemade water filter will work in much the same way as many pitcher or countertop systems work. Gravity feeds the water downwards through a variety of materials that each act as a stage of filtration.
Starting with the largest particles at the top (gravel) which will filter out the larger contaminants from the water, and finishing with a fine coffee filter ( or cloth, or gauze) that prevents any visible particles from making their way into the final drinking water.
There's a special ingredient too, which might not be so readily available around the home. That's the activated carbon.
However, this is available from sites like Amazon and also pet stores that specialize in fish. If you have carbon water filters at home (perhaps a pitcher) then you could also recycle the activated carbon from inside for the purpose of this experiment.
Why activated carbon?
Activated carbon is the functional component of most water filters. It is basically charcoal that has been treated to increase its potential for chemical adsorption. It uses this process to make water contaminants "cling" to its porous surface and prevent them from passing through into your drinking water.
What you'll need:
A plastic bottle (the bigger this is the more water your filter will be capable of filtering per minute)
Gravel (optional, but helps)
Sand
Activated carbon
A coffee filter
Scissors
The quantities of the gravel, sand, and activated carbon depend on the size of bottle you use. You are going to cut the bottom of the bottle off and fill it with layers of these substances.
What to do:
First, you'll want to source your materials and prepare them properly. Rinse the gravel and sand in water to make sure they don't contain any dirt or dust.
Next, you need to prepare the activated carbon. The finer the particles, the more surface area, and therefore the more effective it becomes at adsorbing pollutants. Grind up the activated carbon into a powder-like substance. If you are actually using charcoal from your own fire, you can use a brick or rock to crush it into powder.
With the filtration materials prepared the next thing to do is prepare your bottle.
Make a thick layer of carbon, as increased contact time will give better filtration. Also, note that you will need a gap at the top where you fill the bottle with water. The more space at the top, the more water you can put into the homemade water filter at once.
Now, we can start filling the bottle with the carbon, sand, and gravel. The order in which we put these into the bottle is important. We need the biggest objects at the top and the smallest at the bottom.
Start by placing the coffee filter in the bottom, and then gradually fill with activated carbon, then sand, and then gravel. Remember to leave a gap of at least a few inches at the top. This allows our water filter to fill up with a decent amount of water each time it is used. The image at the top of this page does not show room to add water (which you need).
Here is another picture of the basic idea:
And here is a video that I made that shows How to Make the Water Filter out of Charcoal.
Source: Original Article Here at Water Filter Answers