Putting steam into the bottom of the kiln first was a great idea so steam filters up through the still hot coals. Little dangerous though as it could blast you. Been burned that way myself
Flash boiling can be very powerful, but I do think his method should be OK since charcoal have very low heat capacity (that is the reason you can walk on glowing coal without burn the skin of your feet).
@@bknesheim There's little worry from the coal, it's the white hot end of the pipe that could cause an issue. Already does blast some of the water out on camera, that could have been worse.
I think spreading the hot coals and spraying them would get better results. The water needs to get as deep into the wood as possible before turning to steam. It may even be beneficial to load the retort with wet charcoal. This matches the normal process the closest, where they first produce coal and then add steam. Putting the water in the bottom will drop the temperature and the steam moving up through the coals will have no pressure. Adding water from the top allows the coals to extinguish, soak, and get steamed from the rising heat coming from the coals below. This should increase the internal pressure.
Thanks, all. I thought the pipe to the bottom was worth trying first, but it's not as satistying as the hissing/cracking you get from the top down. I should test the different layers to see if there's any detectable change. So many interesting things to do!
@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 I like one option you have with the pipe to the bottom. You can extinguish the lower layer and stop it completely from burning and still continue the fire on top. That should increase the yield some and make it easier to control the radiated heat. Making a little less hot to do the work is always nice. 🙂
Hey! Not to dunk on your results, but you failed to wash the non-activated charcoal before testing or didn't show it atleast. The batch of activated charcoal when being made was washed which could have removed certain water soluble elements in the charcoal that would still be present in the non-activated batch. In order to guarantee this isn't the case I would suggest running the test again, but wash both batches with filtered water until they run clean before using the pond water.
I would leave the two filtered samples on the window sill and see which grows things first. (If you have a time-laps camera, it might be an additional data point.)
The activated charcoal might be a better surface to grow things on, which can screw the results. To do a real test you would make agar plates and put a drop of water on each. boiling some potatoes and evaporating the liquid from the water will give you a good agar substitute because the starchy sugar mix is perfect for mold and bacteria to feed on. The faster and bigger the growth colony on each dish the more contaminates the sample contained. PS. You can also dissolve some antibiotics in water and paint some on the half of the dish without contaminates and you will get a clean line where the growth stops if it is effective against those things, and if it spreads further those are antibiotic resistant/immune.
I'd like to see the activated vs regular RINSED charcoal. The grayness could just be ash. Also like to see a PPM meter reading on both. Even regular charcoal that has merely been rinsed of ash is pretty powerful stuff. I have charcoal all over the place and don't need more but I might do a small test batch just using the rocket...
Activated won't filter everything alive. A friend did the same filtering in a College experiment - then drank the water! He was just fine after a week in the Hospital!
@@djhscorp feeding back to the chickens. heating the egg shells kills any bacteria and makes the calcium in the shells easier for the chickens to digest.
I enjoy Cody’s Lab myself. I’m a Rough Science geek who enjoys using basic science to accomplish goals around the home. Even regular charcoal has some level of usefulness as a filter medium.
there is an other (I think easier) way to measure the surface of the charcoal: you mix some Saltwater use the coal as electrodes, put some AC through it and measure the resistance. The bigger the surface area, the lower the resistance will become. Some years ago I sorted different kind of coals with that method.
If you were forced to rely on this process for water filtration, every extra advantage you can give the charcoal would be valuable in reaching cleaner water: -bubbling air through the raw water to activate aerobic bacteria and destroy anaerobic life -giving settling time for aerobic processes to consume the remaining oxygen and die off -flocculation by adding alum or iron salts to make mechanical filtration more effective -coffee filters or fine cloth as a pre-filter to remove bulk material -seeping through stoneware or terracotta for fine particulate removal -and finally, after running it through the charcoal, boiling it! All that being said, I suspect the water from your hose pipe is still more reliably safe. ;-)
@@schwuzi I agree, there is great value in that. Inoculating the soil may better than just watering it with pond water. Just noting that all that excess heat could be captured for making a clean source of emergency water if needed. These days you never know what will be in short supply.
@@zippymcfearson2776 I think he touched on that in the video, I don't remember. Instead of the barrel on top you could run any old water boiler with a heating coil in it to pump fresh water through. Though the you would need quite the flow to not overheat or overpressure the boiler.
This is an essential skill that everyone should know, because when the zombie apocalypse happens, you will have to filter water with campfire charcoal.
Well, I was one of the sent sceptics, now a true convert. Not that I ever want activated charcoal, all that I make is for casting ally and a kebab tandoor.
"The stove is only warm part of the day, so it's full of eggshells." Yes, mhmm that makes sense. That's a nice stove though. I was recently in a house that was literally being moved to another location and they had a stove that was a little larger than that converted to use gas. They wanted to make sure it didn't get damaged because it was hard to get another and it costs about 15k CAD. They were never very common here.
Superb stuff. Takes me back decades, trying to get students through long lost nuffield A level courses. These were easily undergraduate level and we all had a great time encouraging and devising everything from standard ecological stuff to slug bait production, memory in small mammals and evaluation of chalk and charcoal for filters. Every child should be allowed to explore this area of science. Too often H and S has killed good experimentation dead. Glad you fly the flag for innovation. I have a beautiful wind driven pump system from a well. It is 84 ft down the inspection caisson. Also a gasometer and generator using sewage and years ago chicken manure. Sadly not running now. . My ancestors were keen on self sufficiency and so had a gas lit house! Cheers
Some people just repeat what they heard from others! Interesting experiment! I also liked the elegant way you talked about cody, about the lab equipment and so on. I used to watch his videos in the past. Interesting but often too complicated and very impractical. In relation to activated charcoal, it should be easy to understand that activation is not necessary for its properties of filtering and adsorbing toxins. This is because charcoal has been used for thousands of years in various cultures. They had neither the necessary knowledge nor laboratories then. But really, the activation only improves the properties of the activated carbon, because from your experiment it can be seen that even the regular one filters. The water in the glass with the regular charcoal seems more cloudy, but I wonder if it is cloudy from the ash that ordinary charcoal contains! Great job!
you could use bamboo as your source of biomass and you should be able to demonstrate that activated bamboo charcoal is even much better than activated tree charcoal
I’ve recently discovered this channel and I love it. Thank you. I want to share something that you may be able to take advantage of. Thermal insulation material for installation in fire boxes and the like. I believe the best insulation material is Dry White Wood Ash powder. The next best is charcoal. Proof of charcoal is Hold a piece of charcoal in your hand light it and blast compressed air on the end away from your hand. It will flow white hot and radiate enormous amounts of heat while you are holding the cold end in your bare hand. See how close you can hold it. White hot say half an inch away from the cold end. Well dry white wood ash is even better than that. Also I love the railway and monorail ideas. I love everything you are doing Thanks
At the end of the experiment, I think that it would have been questionable form for him to say, "I told you so." Well, he didn't, and he didn't because he has the level of dignity and temperament required to run a successful youtube channel. I, however do not have that kind of temperment, so... "He toldya so!" : P
Mhmmm, purified water... any plans on creating one of those multi-staged water Purifying barrels... and then comparing what's found in the different water sources... Cheers!
If I have understood this, then any filter - even a cloth handkerchief - is better than no filter; a large layer of charcoal is better than a handkerchief; and activated charcoal is better than raw charcoal. - notwithstanding toxic chemicals that might be partway out of the wood (Australians will think of Oleander branches). I let my 25-litre pails of roof water stand for 24 hours before handkerchief filtering. All rain water is boiled (tea, coffee, bread-baking, fruit bottling etc) and I have great confidence in my gut bacteria and immune system. Cheers, Chris
Forgive me but I'm going to ask a question that I could Google. I'm not much for a lawn care , but there's a small area around my ponds that used to have beautiful grass but my heavy dogs turned the clay rich soil rock hard. I have till this up very thoroughly and mixed in potting soil and even added a French drain. Three times. Every time it turns back into rock, sparse grass. Just by chance I happen to own a very large barrel of activated charcoal in these little spheres. Do you think that this would make a difference? Lighten up the soil enough? It's very difficult to get to, I necessarily have to till by hand, I really want to get it right this time. I've even been contemplating fake grass and I hate everything plastic
"I know which one I would drink, if there was nothing else." Yeah. All those keyboard warriors telling you how wrong you did it, never seem to think about that. Heh!
Sorry, I'll have to declare "No test" on this one as you clearly tapped the tube with activated charcoal four times on the bench but didn't do that with the normal charcoal tube! ;-)
Fascinating thank you for that. I had the suspicion that activated charcoal and bio char was a con to sell waste charcoal dust. You've convinced me otherwise. Cheers J
thank you ,,, now i understand the link to bio char earth adamant, using bio-char to filter the un suitable water say for animals to drink , or water veg garden to remove the nasty s, then creating a compostable bio-char loaded amendment thus feeding the nutrients and safely watering food crops with the filtered water in a safe cheap manor, lol am i even close to whats behind the approach
I would think something like a rock crusher would need 4 plates of steel some pin sitting in a grove which a geared rail could be used so you can adjust how big the bottom gap is to allow the charcoal to fall through then at the top of the crushing plate a cam either pushing on something or a camed pulley to a small pulley which could be powered by an electric motor or then another pulley on the small pulley to be connected to your stationary engine.
Of cause we know what glas you would drink for sure: the left one - the fourty shade of greens as an irish , what else. Will harden you for sure. just kidding - great idea and proof of concept
My girl said she needed more of that charcoal toothpaste and said it was great, and I’m like “you mean that’s all it is! Heck I can make that!” I wonder how hard it is to just make tooth paste.
Thank you so much for this :) I'm curious, why wouldn't the act of smashing it to smitherenes not do the "activation" of creating fisures and holes? I would be very interested to see that activated charcoal compared to that made in the barrel, simply allowing all the fuel to escape and not burn.
Without any context there is some fantastic absurdist humour on your channel. "This time of year the stove is only warm for some of the day, so it's full of eggshells."
Or grind it finer. Or get exact same results filling the tubes with sand. Or bits of paper towel. Charcoal of any state or process need not be involve to achieve the same exact results.
Fascinating 'jug and bucket' chemistry. Have learned a lot about charcoal from this series and glad I have been be default using water to quench my biochar made in a bathtub. Didn't know I was improving it by adding the water / steam.
Well done!! I prefer your method as it has a very practical outcome with low tech input.........albeit with a lot of cogitation / trial and error . My approach to virtually everything new I'm attempting. I have an engineering workshop and a woodworking workshop on my property ( I'm a retired builder who has taken to beekeeping ) . Thank you for your marvellous videos, you continue to inspire me.
Huh, I thought innoculated and activated were two terms for the same process with no steam mentioned. So this is news to me. Hey that goose water is perfect for any fruit trees or shrubs! You know I like your cone kiln, but without the expense a good hole in the ground works great as well. Instead of square you just dig rectangular as it also fits your stems well. If I remember right it was skillcult or another interesting channel a hand full of years ago had a good video series on what he was up too. I liked it because it was so versatile. You dig where you want a charcoal bed, get it burning, keep layering your cuttings till the hole is full and then cover with earth and or water and either harvest the charcoal and use wherever or just bury and garden on top of it. Just like those old charcoal kiln spots are the greenest spots in the forest still today, so can it work for your homestead. IN THEORY, LOL! Great seeing all the fun you get up too.
Why do people sometimes call Celsius a centigrate? Charcoal seems like black magic to my inept brain. i have watched it being made rather simply on this channel but its completely crazy causalities are impressive. from wood to not quote coal with just some heat and rapid cooling hmm kinda like tempered metal? clever people were all throught history of our spiecies.
Centrigrade was the old metric word for the unit. When the scientific world changed to SI units (in 1960?) the name of the unit was changed to Celsius. SI took some units from the metric system (e.g. metres, kilograms), some units from the Imperial/US system (e.g. candlepower/candela), and invented a whole bunch of new improved units (e.g. Joules, Pascals). I believe everyone now uses SI units except for the USA, Liberia, and Burma/Myanmar.
@@nameless5413 No worries! (By the way, you've been luckier in the delivery of this information than me. As an engineering student I had it shouted into my face -- at a distance of about about 100 mm -- by a senior navy engineer.)
Charcoal have a large surface and water can move much faster over it then larger molecules and particles. The result is that just water get to the end of the filter and can be tapped of. If a filter is used to long the rest will follow and the filter stop working.
Another great video. Thanks Tim. There is probably another mechanism activating your charcoal besides the physical expanding of the steam within preexisting pores in the hot charcoal. Steam will react with hot charcoal to produce a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The mixed gas is called "reform gas" and it was produced back in the day when we had coal gas running around in pipes. The carbon monoxide would have added an extra poison the coal gas so it's probably a good thing we don't use it anymore at least here in Australia.
Very interesting for homemade water filters in case there is no more freshwater available in a drought. Do you think you would get a better yield if all the hot charcoal is dropped into a tank of water at once? Difficult with your big hopper but may be feasible on a smaller scale.
@@dshack4689 I collect a lot of rain water. I wouldn't dare to drink it but I could use some to make activated charcoal and then filter the rest of the rain water to drink it.
2:00 I was just pondering opening a new tab and shopping for a microscope. Done. 42 bucks for an educational one with a carrying case. There's kid toy ones for under 20 bucks that would work just fine. And I agree with you one the "Which one to drink." But I'd still boil it first. Oh, and if you have nice clear water and want to disinfect it in bulk, it only takes 1/4 of a TEASPOON of "Pool Shock," or Calcium Hypochlorite, to sterilize a 55 gallon (200~ litre) barrel. For the sample of filtered water in the standard charcoal, I would use 1/2 of a teaspoon. And when you buy your Pool Shock or whatever other brand you get, CHECK THE INGREDIENTS CAREFULLY. The only two you want to see are: Calcium Hypochlorite, in the 68-70% range, and INERT INGREDIENTS. Anything else listed is biocides and fungicides that will kill us.
Fun! And doesn't hurt to confirm your findings, and I'm sure you'll gain finesse and improve technique a tiny bit each batch. Keep on Tim! Love seeing the videos.
After watching Cody's "steam" video, I wondered if simply including water in the generator would do the same thing. Adding steam to a 500°+ pot just seemed redundant. To avoid contaminating my carbon with unknowns, I added RO water at the beginning of the firing process and kept it under heat until all the water was boiled off. So far, it seems to have 'activated' my carbon... (test to follow). It would have been nice to compare a commercial carbon to your testing samples... and yes, using the iodine method.
The real question is whether or not it is activated and useful medicinally?. All this proved is that ANY charcoal can be used as a water filter; even if it's straight out of a camp fire.. We already knew that.
