The present invention relates to a porous carbon material having a co-continuous structure forming portion in which carbon skeletons and voids form continuous structures, respectively and which has a structural period of 0.002 m to 3 m, having pores which have an average diameter of 0.01 to 10 nm on a surface thereof, and having a BET specific surface area of 100 m.sup.2/g or more.

Provided is an electrode material which has a co-continuous porous structure configured from a carbon skeleton and voids and which, by providing a large surface area, has excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, etc. This electrode material includes a porous carbon material having a co-continuous structure portion in which a carbon skeleton and voids form a continuous structure, and in the porous carbon material, the specific surface area measured by the BET method is 1 to 4500 m.sup.2/g, and the pore volume measured by the BJH method is 0.01 to 2.0 cm.sup.3/g.

Provided is an electrode material which has a co-continuous porous structure configured from a carbon skeleton and voids and which, by providing a large surface area, has excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, etc. This electrode material includes a porous carbon material having a co-continuous structure portion in which a carbon skeleton and voids form a continuous structure, and in the porous carbon material, the specific surface area measured by the BET method is 1 to 4500 m.sup.2/g, and the pore volume measured by the BJH method is 0.01 to 2.0 cm.sup.3/g.

A method of producing biochar from spent coffee grounds, biochar, such as biochar produced according to the methods of the present disclosure, an environmental remediation system including biochar according to embodiments of the present disclosure, and methods of removing contaminants from an aqueous solution using biochar according to embodiments of the present disclosure are described. In an embodiment, the method of producing biochar from spent coffee grounds comprises heating dried spent coffee grounds in an oven in a first pyrolysis temperature range to provide an intermediate biochar; and heating the intermediate biochar and a caustic in the oven in a second pyrolysis temperature range to provide the biochar.

A vertically oriented plasma reactor is provided. In another aspect, a plasma reactor includes a vertically elongated vacuum chamber, a wall internally projecting within a middle section of the housing, magnets, electrodes and a radio frequency source. A further aspect employs a workpiece-entry port and an opposite workpiece material-exit port, with one located adjacent a top end and the other adjacent a bottom end of a vertically elongated reactor housing or vacuum chamber. Yet another aspect employs a moving or falling-bed plasma reactor for use in activating biochar material.

A vertically oriented plasma reactor is provided. In another aspect, a plasma reactor includes a vertically elongated vacuum chamber, a wall internally projecting within a middle section of the housing, magnets, electrodes and a radio frequency source. A further aspect employs a workpiece-entry port and an opposite workpiece material-exit port, with one located adjacent a top end and the other adjacent a bottom end of a vertically elongated reactor housing or vacuum chamber. Yet another aspect employs a moving or falling-bed plasma reactor for use in activating biochar material.

A method of making heteroatom-doped activated carbon is described in this application. Specifically, it describes a process that utilizes liquid furfuryl-functional-group compounds as starting materials, which are then used to dissolve the heteroatom containing source compounds, before being polymerized into solids using catalysts. The polymerized solids are then carbonized and activated to make the heteroatom-doped activated carbon. Electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC) were fabricated with activated carbons doped with boron and nitrogen, and tested for performance. Also, the boron and nitrogen content in the activated carbons was confirmed by chemical analysis.

A method of making heteroatom-doped activated carbon is described in this application. Specifically, it describes a process that utilizes liquid furfuryl-functional-group compounds as starting materials, which are then used to dissolve the heteroatom containing source compounds, before being polymerized into solids using catalysts. The polymerized solids are then carbonized and activated to make the heteroatom-doped activated carbon. Electric double-layer capacitors (EDLC) were fabricated with activated carbons doped with boron and nitrogen, and tested for performance. Also, the boron and nitrogen content in the activated carbons was confirmed by chemical analysis.

A device for treating a gas laden with pollutants, includes at least one adsorption module for adsorbing the pollutants, which is utilized in an adsorption apparatus. The adsorption module includes at least one electrically conductive layer of an activated carbon fiber mat, an electric current circuit for heating the activated carbon fiber mat for the desorption of the adsorbed pollutants, and distributing conduit which is routed into the center of the adsorption module and has outlet openings for a flush gas for inertizing and rinsing the activated carbon fiber mat.

A carbon material having a continuous porous structure oriented to the stretching axis is provided, which carbon material can be used as a structural material excellent in interfacial adhesion. The porous carbon material has a continuous porous structure in at least a portion thereof, in which the continuous porous structure has an orientation degree measured by a small-angle X-ray scattering method or an X-ray CT method of 1.10 or more.