{{Short description|Pure form of carbon produced from sugar}} {{More citations needed|date=May 2022}} {{distinguish|Coal candy}}
'''Sugar charcoal''' is formed by the charring of cane sugar, which was repeatedly recrystallized to remove any organic impurities.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Bartell |first1=F. E. |last2=Miller |first2=E. J. |title=Adsorption by Activated Sugar Charcoal. I1 |date=September 1922 |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01430a004 |journal=Journal of the American Chemical Society |language=en |volume=44 |issue=9 |pages=1866–1880 |doi=10.1021/ja01430a004 |issn=0002-7863|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It is also prepared by the dehydration of sugar in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid is such a strong dehydrating agent that it abstracts water from the sugar molecules themselves and leaves behind black residue of carbon (i.e. the general formula for sugars is C<sub>x</sub>(H<sub>2</sub>O)<sub>x</sub> and it is this water that is removed with only carbon remaining). It is the purest form of amorphous carbon.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}
==Use== Since sugar charcoal is a method of producing very pure carbon it is used to prepare artificial diamonds. When heated strongly at high temperature (3000-3500 °C) and high pressure, it is converted into an artificial diamond.
It is used as a reducing agent in the process of extraction of metals.
Sugar charcoal has decolourizing properties, which means it removes some dyes, such as methylene blue,<ref name=":0" /> from water. Note: this is not a chemical bleaching process, but rather a physical process. The dyes are adsorbed into the pores and onto the surface of the charcoal particles, thereby removing them from solution.
Category:Charcoal Charcoal
== References == {{Reflist}}