Catalytic Carbon

Activated carbon does not adsorb chloramines but rather removes them through its ability to act as a catalyst for the chemical breakdown of chloramines to innocuous chlorides in water. This catalytic reaction involves the formation of a carbon oxide intermediate (CO*). This reaction is as follows:

NH2Cl + H2O + C* = NH3 + Cl- + H+ + CO*

2NH2Cl + CO*= N2 + 2Cl- + 2H+ + H2O + C*

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http://www.wqa.org/pdf/techbulletins/tb-chloramine.pdf

Did y’all know this? Really? Nobody told me.

I tripped over this trying to find out what ‘catalytic carbon’ is. It turns out they’re all catalytic it’s just that some are more catalytic than others with regard to chloramine.

Yes, see http://wetnewf.org/pdfs/Brewing_articles/BT_Chlorine.pdf pp 21-22.

I'm not sure I'd call it catalytic though as the carbon is actually oxidized by that first chloramine molecule and then subsequently reduced by the second 2. I guess you could call that catalysis.

Yeah, I’ve read that one, several times. I have a copy on my files. Good stuff.

It seems that even that little Britta pitcher filter worked pretty well. I’m guessing a good carbon block would be better. How much chloramine is too much?

I have been using a tiny amount of Campden in my filtered water. A pinch would be enough, wouldn’t it? Something like 20 mg? I really can’t tell the difference.

I don’t know why carbon wouldn’t be a catalyst. It’s in the reaction, but not in the final product.