Contingencies (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended										12 Months Ended					10 Months Ended	1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended				0 Months Ended												1 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010 FYEO	Dec. 31, 2013 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property	Dec. 31, 2012 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property	Dec. 31, 2011 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property	Dec. 31, 2013 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property Accounts payable and accrued liabilities	Dec. 31, 2013 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property Accrued pension and other liabilities	Dec. 31, 2012 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property Accrued pension and other liabilities	Dec. 31, 2011 Waterlink's Columbus, Ohio property Activated Carbon and Service	Dec. 31, 2013 Big Sandy Plant item	Dec. 31, 2012 Big Sandy Plant	Feb. 24, 2014 Big Sandy Plant	Dec. 31, 2010 Big Sandy Plant	Dec. 31, 2013 Frontier Chemical Processing Royal Avenue Site	Mar. 31, 2013 Frontier Chemical Processing Royal Avenue Site Minimum item	Aug. 31, 2008 Frontier Chemical Processing Royal Avenue Site Minimum item	Dec. 31, 2013 Frontier Chemical Processing Royal Avenue Site Estimated	Dec. 31, 2012 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Nov. 30, 2009 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Dec. 31, 2008 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Dec. 31, 2013 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Dec. 31, 2012 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Dec. 31, 2011 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Dec. 31, 2010 Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act Distributions	Jan. 09, 2014 Period of Review III	Aug. 15, 2013 Period of Review III item	Oct. 31, 2011 Period of Review III	Nov. 09, 2012 Period of Review IV	Nov. 09, 2012 Period of Review IV Jacobi Carbons AB	Nov. 09, 2012 Period of Review IV Ningxia Huahui Activated Carbon Co., Ltd.	Nov. 26, 2013 Period of Review V item	Nov. 26, 2013 Period of Review V Jacobi Carbons AB	Nov. 26, 2013 Period of Review V Ningxia Huahui Activated Carbon Co., Ltd.	Jun. 26, 2013 Period of Review VI item	Dec. 18, 2012 Sunset Review item	Jun. 06, 2012 Sunset Review	Mar. 18, 2013 Sunset Review	Mar. 31, 2012 Sunset Review item	Nov. 30, 2013 Carbon Imports - Anti-dumping duties	Dec. 31, 2013 Carbon Imports - Anti-dumping duties periodofreview
Contingencies
Litigation settlement amount				$ 4,300,000
Recognized litigation expense	284,000	111,000	(337,000)	3,300,000
Recorded liability estimates for environmental loss contingencies								400,000	400,000	1,400,000
Environmental remediation costs					600,000	600,000	700,000					400,000
Accrued potential loss															2,000,000
Reduction in previously recorded liabilities											1,300,000	200,000	200,000
Number of PRP's joining the Company in Consent Order for additional site investigation																		100
Number of PRP's along with Company entered into consent decree with NYSDEC																	30
Amount spent by PRP Group for remediation																7,300,000
Potentially Responsible Party Group, Additional Environmental Remediation Costs																			1,800,000
Amount available in trust account of PRP Group to apply against final remediation costs																1,200,000
Import duty (in dollars per pound)																											0.000														0.073
Prior period over which Commerce Department reviews anti-dumping tariffs																																										12 months
Period for which reviews are possible																																										5 years
Number of periods of review																																										6
Adjusted Ongoing Anti-dumping duty rate determined by review (as a percent)																													0.00%	0.00%
Receivable recorded for anticipated refunds of anti-dumping duties																													1,100,000
Tariff collection rate for cooperative respondents (in dollars per pound)																											0.000		0.127
Number of respondents applied with per-unit rates																												1
Anti-dumping margins for mandatory respondents (in dollars per pound)																															0.20	0.96		0.01	0.18
Anti-dumping margins for cooperative, separate rate respondents (in dollars per pound)																														0.47			0.07
Anti-dumping margin for a competitor (in dollars per pound)																														0
Assessment rate finalized at deposit rate due to not participating in review (as a percent)																														14.51%
Number of U.S. producers besides the Company participating in sunset review																																					2			2
Number of mandatory respondents																																	2			2
Period for possible continuation of anti-dumping tariff																																					5 years			5 years
Extension period for continuation of anti-dumping tariff																																						5 years	5 years	5 years
Distributions received under Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act																					800,000	200,000			0	0
Distributions received as a percentage of total amount of duties available																					59.57%	59.57%
Amount received																				1,800,000			100,000
Amount received, reflected within the entity's consolidated statement of comprehensive income																								1,500,000
Percentage of final anti-dumping duties received as CDSOA distributions																							59.57%
Penalty amount														$ 1,600,000
Number of ground water monitoring wells to be installed												2