In China,Japan and Philippines many people use bamboo charcoal as cooking fuel, as well as to dry tea. Most bamboo charcoal for fuel is bamboo briquette charcoal, and the rest is raw bamboo charcoal. Like all charcoal, bamboo charcoal purifies water and eliminates organic impurities and smells. It is possible to treat chlorine-sterilized drinking water with bamboo charcoal to remove residual chlorine and chlorides. Because he and his team discovered the longevity of its use, Thomas Edison featured a carbonized bamboo filament in one of his original designs for the light bulb.