Made in Sri Lanka, activated carbon is shipped worldwide for many industries and applications, including gold extraction in mines.

Haycarb, a unit of the centuries old diversified blue chip conglomerate Hayleys Group, controls around 15 percent of the world’s activated carbon market.

Sri Lanka has one of the world’s highest suicide rates, where people attempt to take their lives by swallowing Yellow Oleander (Kaneru) seeds or pesticides.

The carbon powder mixed with water to form a suspension is administered orally to the victim of attempted suicide. The carbon then works as an effective, antidote that absorbs the poison in a person’s stomach.

It’s an inexpensive antidote with a high success rate, Haycarb said Thursday.

"Activated carbon has saved many thousands of lives in Sri Lanka over the years and its efficacy has been confirmed by a study done by Sri Lankan and British specialists over 6 months and published in the authoritative medical journal 'The Lancet'," Haycarb Director Rohan Pieris said.

"This is just one of many possible applications for activated carbon, which is widely used in water and air purification all over the world."

As an antidote for poisoning by Kaneru and certain types of pesticides, activated carbon replaces the antidote used in hospitals overseas, a single treatment of which costs 265,000 rupees.

Most local hospitals that receive victims of attempted suicide by Kaneru or pesticide poisoning, have to induce patients to vomit, in order to flush out the poison, as the imported antidote is too expensive.

The success rate of this method is comparatively low as opposed to the use of activated carbon, which is much easier to administer and has a very high success rate if administered correctly.

The Chilaw hospital alone, one of the biggest recipients of donations of activated carbon by Haycarb, has saved 451 lives with it between April 2005 and March 2006, achieving a success rate of 95 percent, Pieris said.

A natural biodegradable product, activated carbon is manufactured from coconut shell charcoal and is a highly active adsorption agent due to its porosity.

One gram of carbon has a pore surface area of an unbelievable 1200 square metres. This gives it an exceptional ability to adsorb gasses and liquids on to its surface.

"The properties of carbon as a purifying agent and its amazing capability to attract impurities have been known in Sri Lanka for many centuries," he said.

"Today, carbon is made commercially, with the aid of the latest technology, enhancing these properties and increasing the number of applications for activated carbon in the daily lives of people. We now produce activated carbons that can selectively trap certain compounds while permitting others to go through."

The largest application for activated carbon is in water purification, with activated carbon being used to remove odour, colour, taste, lead, heavy metals, chlorine and organochlorides.