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How Does Activated Carbon Work? How Does Activated Carbon Work? This article comes from the Explainer.com Battling the Benzene An explosion at a Chinese chemical plant two weeks ago spilled a 50-mile slick of benzene into the Songhua River, which provides drinking water for the city of Harbin. After the accident, the Chinese government made plans to ship 1,000 tons of activated carbon to the city’s water treatment facilities and to dump more carbon straight into the river. Russian authorities—who expect the pollution to reach the city of Khabarovsk within the next few weeks—are shipping 50 tons of activated carbon to local treatment plants. How can activated carbon clean up a spill? Through adsorption. Carbon has a natural affinity for organic pollutants like benzene, which bind to its surface. If you “activate” carbon—by steaming it at 1,800 degrees, for example—it forms little pores and pockets that increase its surface area. (It’s said that a teaspoon of activat...