Multiple choice

Which charcoal is used to decolourise brown sugar solution?

  1. Blood charcoal

  2. Sugar charcoal

  3. Bone charcoal

  4. Wood charcoal

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

It is prepared by the destructive distillation of bones of animals. Bones obtained from slaughter houses, are first treated with certain bacteria to remove all the fleshy remnants. Then the bones are taken in a furnace and heated strongly in the absence of air. The solid matter obtained contains nearly 10% of carbon, and almost 90% of calcium phosphate. It is then treated with dilute hydrochloric acid, which dissolves the calcium phosphate, leaving behind bone charcoal. This can be separated by filtration.Bone charcoal is a black powder called as 'ivory black'. It is porous and can adsorb colouring matter. It is mostly used in sugar industry to decolourise sugar.