Every activated carbon supplier will tell you their product is high quality. The only question that matters is: who verified it? This article explains how third-party laboratory testing works in the Indonesian carbon industry, and how to use it when comparing suppliers.

Self-declared versus independently verified

A specification sheet produced by the seller is a starting point, not proof. Numbers can be typed; laboratory analyses have to be earned. When a producer submits samples to an independent, accredited laboratory, three useful things happen:

  1. The sample is tested by people with no stake in the result.
  2. The method is standardised — results can be compared across suppliers.
  3. The report exists as a document with a number, a date and a named laboratory that can be contacted to verify it.

What a Sucofindo report contains

Our production is analysed by IDSurvey / PT Sucofindo, Indonesia’s state-owned inspection and testing company, at its Cibitung laboratory. Each analysis follows SNI 06-3730-1995, the Indonesian national standard for technical activated carbon, and reports eight parameters: moisture, ash, loss on heating at 950 °C, fraction passing mesh 325, bulk density, pure activated carbon content, iodine adsorption and methylene blue adsorption.

We publish our three most recent reports in full on this website — report numbers E02370/CNBPAR, E02479/CNBPAR and E02510/CNBPAR — as readable tables rather than as images or summaries. The batches were sampled over three consecutive months, which is exactly the kind of repeat evidence a buyer should ask for: one good test proves a batch, three consistent tests suggest a process.

How to use lab reports when comparing suppliers

  • Ask for the actual report, not a brochure figure. Check the report number and issue date.
  • Check the method. Iodine numbers measured by different standards are not directly comparable.
  • Look for repeat tests over time — consistency across batches is worth more than one exceptional figure.
  • Cross-check dead weight. High moisture or ash quietly reduces the adsorbing carbon in every tonne.
  • Be suspicious of round numbers. Real laboratory results look like 1,279.13 — not 1,300.

Transparency is cheap for honest producers and expensive for everyone else. That is precisely why we publish our figures.