The present invention relates to a method for preparing an adsorbent for phosphorus adsorption and an adsorbent prepared by the method. Specifically, according to the present invention, the surface of conventional expanded vermiculite, which is effective for removal of cations but is not effective for removal of anions, is coated with sulfate to modify the surface, thereby preparing an adsorbent for phosphorus adsorption. Namely, the surface of expanded vermiculite is ionized by sulfate to thereby significantly increase the efficiency with which the anion phosphorus is removed by the expanded vermiculite. In addition, a floating-type adsorbent can be prepared using the expanded vermiculite as described above, and thus it can be quickly separated from water after adsorption without requiring a process for separating the absorbent from water.

The invention in its various embodiments is directed to methods and equipment for generating an activated sorbent from a sorbent precursor with the addition of certain chemicals that enhance the effectiveness of the activated sorbent. The invention in its various embodiments is also directed to the methods and equipment for generating some of the chemicals that are added to the raw carbonaceous material or activated sorbent to enhance its effectiveness. The invention in its various embodiments is also directed to methods and equipment for generating certain chemicals that can be added to a gas stream to convert a given gaseous pollutant to a form that is more easily removed from the gas stream.

The invention separating material and separation method make it possible to separate and collect 1,3-butadiene selectively from a mixed gas containing 1,3-butadiene and a C.sub.4 hydrocarbon other than 1,3-butadiene. A separating material capable of adsorbing 1,3-butadiene selectively includes: a dicarboxylic acid compound (I) represented by formula (I) (wherein R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or the like); a metal ion such as a zinc ion and a cobalt ion; and a metal complex having such a structure that multiple pseudo-diamondoid frameworks are intruded mutually, wherein each of the pseudo-diamondoid frameworks comprises an organic ligand (II) that is represented by formula (II) (wherein X represents CH.sub.2, CH.sub.2CH.sub.2, CHCH or the like; and R.sup.5, R.sup.6, R.sup.7, R.sup.8, R.sup.9, R.sup.10, R.sup.11 and R.sup.12 independently represent a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group or the like) and is capable of being bidentately coordinated with the metal ion.

A method of sorbent dialysis is provided for enhanced removal of uremic toxins, such as toxic anions and/or organic solutes, from spent dialysate. More highly adsorbable zirconium polymeric complexes of these anions and/or organic solutes can be initially formed in spent dialysate by treatment with zirconium salt solution or other zirconium cation source, and then removed with adsorbent to provide purified or regenerated dialysate. Sorbent dialysis systems for detoxifying spent dialysate containing toxic anions and organic solutes are also provided.

The present document describes a carbon allotrope-silica composite material comprising a silica microcapsule comprising a silica shell having a thickness of from about 50 nm to about 500 m, and a plurality of pores, said shell forming a capsule having a diameter from about 0.2 m to about 1500 and having a density of about 0.001 g/cm3 to about 1.0 g/cm3, wherein said shell comprises from about 0% to about 70% Q3 configuration, and from about 30% to about 100% Q4 configuration, or wherein said shell comprises from about 0% to about 60% T2 configuration and from about 40% to about 100% T3 configuration, or wherein said shell comprises a combination of T and Q configurations thereof, and wherein an exterior surface of said capsule is covered by a functional group; a carbon allotrope attached to said silica microcapsule. Also described is a carbon allotrope-silica composite material comprising a carbon allotrope attached to a silica moiety comprising a silica nanoparticle having a diameter from about 5 nm to about 1000 nm, wherein an exterior surface of said silica nanoparticle is covered by a functional group.

The present invention provides a novel method to fabricate silica nanostructures on thin polymer films based on silica deposition and self-wrinkling induced by thermal shrinkage. These micro- and nano-scale structures have vastly enlarged the specific area of silica, thus the silica nanomembranes can be used for solid phase extraction of nucleic acids. The inventive silica nanomembranes are suitable for nucleic acid purification and isolation and demonstrated better performance than commercial particles in terms of DNA recovery yield and integrity. In addition, the silica nanomembranes have extremely high nucleic acid capacity due to its significantly enlarged specific surface area of silica. Methods of use and devices comprising the silica nanomembranes are also provided.

A device for extraction of analytes with aromatic cycles, preferably analytes with aromatic cycles for which the octanol-water partition coefficient is more than 10.sup.3, the analytes being contained in a liquid phase, the extraction device including a support and an adsorption layer at least partially covering the support, the adsorption layer being porous SiOxCyHz.

Zeolites having surface modification with graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, or a sulfide have utility in removing pollutants from a water supply. Pollutants include Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals, such as lead. POPs are adsorbed onto zeolites having surface modification with graphene oxide and/or reduced graphene oxide. Heavy metals are adsorbed onto zeolites having surface modification with a sulfide.

Articles and method of making articles including a solid porous material having a selenium nanomaterial bound to a surface of and within the solid porous material. The article may be a include no polymeric stabilizer or proteinaceous stabilizer. The solid porous material may be a sponge, a film, a fabric, a non-woven material, or a metal-organic framework (MOF), or a combination thereof. The article may be produced by treating a solid porous material with an aqueous selenous acid solution and heating the solid porous material to form the selenium nanomaterial on the surface of and within the solid porous material.

A hollow tubular oil absorbing material includes: a core formed by a spring, and an outer shell formed by a flat sponge wrapped at the spring; wherein the flat sponge is fixed at both ends of the spring; the flat sponge fully covers all the spring or is sealed at a first end; a connecting tube is connected at a second end of the spring for communicating with a vacuum pump; a graphene oxide layer is coated at the outer sponge. The graphene oxide layer on the flat sponge of hollow tubular oil absorbing material is formed by immersion and coating under negative pressure. Further the reduction of graphene oxide is performed with hydrazine hydrate steam and followed by washing and drying. Finally, a hollow tubular oil absorbing material with a spring core and an outer grapheme-coated sponge structure is obtained, which can be applied to continuous oil-water separation.