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Answer from Scent Blocker Hi Rob,
Thanks for your email. As with all products, there are naysayers.
And often, the naysayer attempts to use science to support their theory, but
just as often there is an underlying or ulterior motive for doing so. In
this case, the first "scientist" to attempt to debunk carbon suits'
effectiveness and their ability to be reactivated was a guy named Michael
Corrigan, an environmental engineer. It turned out later that he was a
shill putting out propaganda for another product attempting to breakthrough
in the marketplace - XStatic antimicrobial hunting garments. I'll touch on
that subject a bit later on.
Basically, from an extremely technical standpoint, the use of the
term reactivation is where the problem lies. In order to "reactivate" spent
activated carbon, technically means to actually expose it to the same set of
conditions under which it was activated in the first place. Carbon is
originally activated by very high heat, often accompanied by steam, at temps
in the 800-1100 degree C range. Obviously this cannot be duplicated by our
household dryers.
The proper term is regeneration or desporption. There are two main
types of adsorption which occur with activated carbon. One is physical
adsorption. This is what occurs when a low level volatile such as human
odor is adsorbed by carbon through a process called Van der Waal's forces.
This type of process is a very low energy, non-specific, and easily
reversible type of attraction. Human odor can be purged or desorbed, thereby
"regenerating" the carbon, when the energy of the bond attracting and
holding the contaminant to the carbon is overcome by a greater energy. And
it has been quite thoroughly documented that the heat of most standard
residential dryers - 130 to 150 degrees Farenheit - is quite sufficient to
overcome this bond. It is by no means a 100% desorption, but is capable of
desorbing over and over many times, purging the odor and providing new sites
for additional human odor to be adsorbed.
The other main type of adsorption is one where a chemical bond is
created, often called chemisorption. This is what occurs when activated
carbon is used to adsorb industrial or hazardous waste, and a chemical bond
is created. This is the type of adsorption that is not easily reversible,
and does require very high heat in the neighborhood of 1100 deg C in order
to break these bonds and completely "reactivate" the carbon. This is what
everyone has latched onto in saying that carbon cannot be reactivated in our
dryers.
As for antimicrobials, I just want to make sure you understand
exactly how they work and what purpose they serve. And they do serve a
purpose and can definitely help when it comes to odor control, but they are
not odor eliminating clothing like some would have you believe.
Antimicrobial use in fabric/garments helps prevent the formation of
bacteria-caused odor - in the fabric itself. They do absolutely nothing to
an odor - they don't trap, adsorb, netralize or otherwise have any affect on
an existing odor. And they cannot prevent the formation of odor that is not
bacterially generated (bacteria acting on perspiration), there are many
sources of odor that have nothing to do with bacteria.
I hope this helps answer some fo your concerns Rob. Good luck, and
let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Regards,
Keith
Keith Edberg
Operations Manager
Robinson Outdoors
110 N Park Dr
Cannon Falls, MN 55009
ph: 507-263-2885
fax: 507-263-5512
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Bingel [mailto:
[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 3:05 PM
To: Melissa Banks
Subject: Question/Comment from Robinson Outdoors Inc
Let me first say I am a huge fan of all your products. On tradgang.com I
posted a poll Topic: Do you use Scent Blocker or Scent Loc . There were many
replies debunking the effectiveness of carbon suits. Things such as
"Extensive testing has been done by chemical engineers who claim it does
work for a while until the carbon absorbs all it can.
Once the carbon absorbs the odors it's useless and requires a temperature of
1100+ degree F to reactivate it. There isn't a dryer made that will put out
that 1100 degree temp to reactivate it." and At one time I had hoped that a
carbon suit could work, but from my experience working canine tracking dogs,
from the military testing, and from scientific data and reports, etc....the
carbon suit technology cannot prevent your detection from a canine, a deer,
or a bear. The commercial carbon suit is already saturated at time of
manufacture and neither a commercial nor a military unit can be recharged
without destroying the entire garment. It is impossible to recharge either a
military or a commercial unit in a commercial clothes dryer.
Superstition and the placebo effect are strong in competitive sports and in
hunting. You could have your lucky underwear or your lucky charm and swear
that you could pitch the baseball faster or could see more game. If it helps
your mental game, go for it. But, no amount of voodoo, polls, or threads can
overcome the fact that carbon suits have been scientifically proven not to
work for the purpose being used when hunting.
What is your answer to these accusations
Topic: Do you use Scent Blocker or Scent Loc (answered) (Read 1816 times)
