Before activated carbon was invented as a patent in the early 20th century, there were many documents and reference materials in history, more about the history of charcoal application. In 3750 BC, Egyptians and Sumerians were the first known people to use charcoal. In BC 1550, ancient Egypt recorded the medical use of charcoal. Greek doctors Hippocrates (460-359 BC) and Pliny used charcoal to treat epilepsy and anthrax. On the Phoenician merchant ship in 450 BC, drinking water was stored in charred barrels, which was the way of storing drinking water at sea from 1 century to18th century in history. During the same period, Hindu religious documents also mentioned the use of sand and charcoal to filter and purify drinking water. 157, Claudius's medical paper mentioned the use of charcoal made from vegetables and animals to treat various diseases. In Compendium of Materia Medica (A.D. 15 18- 1593) compiled by Li Shizhen in China in the Ming Dynasty, it was mentioned that charcoal was used to treat diseases. 1773 Scheler discovered the adsorption capacity of charcoal through a large number of experiments, which can adsorb various gases. 65438-0777 reported the thermal effect of charcoal and its ability to adsorb gas, which led to the later "condensation adsorption theory".
In 1785, Scheler studied the adsorption capacity of charcoal gas, ranging from steam to a series of organic chemicals, and the decolorization of charcoal in various aqueous solutions, especially the commercial application of tartaric acid production. At this time, the sugar industry has been looking for an effective method to decolorize syrup. At this time, charcoal did not play this role particularly effectively, which may be because the degree of porosity development has not reached the level of charcoal for syrup decoloration.
From 1805 to 1808, Delessert successfully decolorized beet wine with charcoal. 18 15, most sugar industries have switched to granular bone charcoal as decolorant.