How To Pull A Representative Activated Carbon Sample (And Why It Matters)

As granular activated carbon (GAC) media becomes less efficient or effective, or run times between backwashes become shorter, operators will need to perform a changeout. At this point, they will need to decide whether to reactivate or dispose of the spent media. The right decision depends on a range of factors, including the contaminants adsorbed as well as the condition of the media itself. For the latter, operators would be wise to pull a GAC sample to be analyzed.

Unfortunately, operators are rarely trained on how to pull carbon samples during hire or even when a new GAC system is installed. As such, there are many bad habits and ineffective tools which fail to pull representative samples. A poor sample is going to give inaccurate results, which can lead to costly decisions. Therefore, it is critical that operators follow this definitive guide for pulling carbon samples for analysis.