K-water Focus ② : Water, Nature and Humankind

K-water Focus ②
K-water works with government agencies to secure a stable supply of activated carbon.
K-water is working jointly with the Ministry of Environment and the Public Procurement Service to secure a stable supply of activated carbon for use in advanced water treatment.
Text Eun-yeong Kim Source K-water

Activated carbon, an emergency supply control material

Activated carbon is used in the final filtering phase of the water treatment process to produce tap water at advanced water treatment plants. The tiny pores on activated carbon absorb odor molecules and harmful micro substances that may exist in tap water. Activated carbon is a black porous substance produced from coal, coconut husks and other carbonaceous source materials by using the two processes of carbonization (i.e. creating pores by pyrolyzing the materials) and oxidation (i.e. increasing the pores by exposing the materials to steam). Activated carbon is similar to charcoal that is commonly used, but the former has triple the number of pores than the latter. 1g of activated carbon has a surface area of around 1,000㎡, equivalent to one-seventh of a soccer field. The high-degree microporosity enables activated carbon to absorb and remove odor molecules and harmful micro materials. But bituminous coal, a key material used to make activated carbon is not produced in S. Korea, which thus depends entirely on coal imports to produce activated carbon. Additionally, the majority of coal is imported from China, creating a risk exposure in unstable coal supply and to the impact of changing external circumstances. For this reason, the government has designated activated carbon as an emergency supply control material in July, the third such designation followed by urea solution.

K-water is endeavoring to secure a stable supply of activated carbon

In order to address worries over the supply of activated carbon, K-water acted promptly and built a warehouse for activated carbon in the Hangang River basin in 2022. In 2023, it is building a national warehouse* for activated carbon financed by the Ministry of Environment in the Nakdonggang River basin, with the warehouse to be used to store activated carbon held by municipalities in the Nakdonggang River and Geumyeonggang River basins.
*The warehouse with a storage capacity of 4,200m³ will be built at Gumi Water Treatment Plant in the Nakdonggang River basin. The construction of the warehouse is scheduled to be completed by December 2024.
To ensure the successful completion of the warehouse construction project, K-water, the Ministry of Environment and Public Procurement Service signed an agreement on the national activated carbon storage project for advanced water treatment on October 17. Amid the growing uncertainty in international politics and trade, the agreement is expected to allow S. Korea to proactively secure and store a sufficient amount of activated carbon that is mostly imported. Under the agreement, K-water will be able to establish a stable supply system for activated carbon, a key water treatment agent in the production of tap water to provide clean and safe tap water at all times.