A method of manufacturing absorbent material from bird feather includes the steps of selecting an appropriate feather material, perform a pre-treatment for cleaning and sterilizing the feather material, crushing the feather material into a crushed material of a size of 0.1 um˜1 cm, and performing a modification treatment of the crushed material by surface activation to produce an absorbent material. After the crushed feather material is processed by a modification treatment, the material may be used to manufacture an absorbent material having both deodoring and filtering functions for adsorbing metal ions, organic solvents, grease or volatile gases.

The present invention relates to a process for producing hydrogen from a liquid capable of being used in at least one hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycle, said process comprising at least one step wherein said liquid is brought into contact with a filtering agent. The invention also relates to the use of a filtering agent for the purification of a liquid capable of being used in at least one hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycle, in a hydrogen production process.

The present invention relates to a process for producing hydrogen from a liquid capable of being used in at least one hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycle, said process comprising at least one step wherein said liquid is brought into contact with a filtering agent. The invention also relates to the use of a filtering agent for the purification of a liquid capable of being used in at least one hydrogenation/dehydrogenation cycle, in a hydrogen production process.

To provide a porous molding that can be used as a molding that has sufficient strength to be self-supportable even when the dimensions change due to absorbing water and that can be suitably used as a filter for removing impurities in a liquid or gas. A porous molding is achieved by sintering a mixed powder including a dried gel powder and a thermoplastic resin powder, wherein the ratio of average particle diameter d.sub.1 of the thermoplastic resin powder to the average particle diameter d.sub.2 of the dried gel powder d.sub.2/d.sub.1 is 1.3 or greater, and the difference ratio of average particle diameter d.sub.1 of the thermoplastic resin powder to the average particle diameter d.sub.2 of the dried gel powder and the average particle diameter d.sub.3 of the dried gel powder when absorbing water and swelling is (d.sub.3−d.sub.2)/d.sub.1 is 4.0 or less.

To provide a porous molding that can be used as a molding that has sufficient strength to be self-supportable even when the dimensions change due to absorbing water and that can be suitably used as a filter for removing impurities in a liquid or gas. A porous molding is achieved by sintering a mixed powder including a dried gel powder and a thermoplastic resin powder, wherein the ratio of average particle diameter d.sub.1 of the thermoplastic resin powder to the average particle diameter d.sub.2 of the dried gel powder d.sub.2/d.sub.1 is 1.3 or greater, and the difference ratio of average particle diameter d.sub.1 of the thermoplastic resin powder to the average particle diameter d.sub.2 of the dried gel powder and the average particle diameter d.sub.3 of the dried gel powder when absorbing water and swelling is (d.sub.3−d.sub.2)/d.sub.1 is 4.0 or less.

One embodiment of the present invention is a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of the amino acid sequences of E, D, and A domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and the C-terminal lysine is deleted or substituted, or a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of B, C, and Z domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and lysine at position 4 and the C-terminal lysine are deleted or substituted.

One embodiment of the present invention is a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of the amino acid sequences of E, D, and A domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and the C-terminal lysine is deleted or substituted, or a protein having affinity for an immunoglobulin, which is a protein having two or more domains derived from any of B, C, and Z domains of protein A, and in the amino acid sequence of at least one of the domains, one or more lysines are included, and lysine at position 4 and the C-terminal lysine are deleted or substituted.

A method for obtaining a liquid from a porous solid phase is described. The method comprises forming a liquid seal at a first end of a porous solid phase to which a liquid is bound, wherein liquid of the liquid seal is immiscible with the liquid bound to the solid phase, and applying a pressure differential across the porous solid phase to cause the immiscible liquid to move through the porous solid phase towards a second end of the porous solid phase, thereby displacing the liquid bound to the porous solid phase towards the second end and releasing this liquid from the second end. Recovery of liquid from the solid phase using such methods is increased compared with corresponding methods in which no liquid seal is formed. In preferred embodiments, the liquid used to form the liquid seal is a mineral oil. The methods have particular application in nucleic acid extractions which utilize capture of nucleic acid to a solid phase. Kits and apparatus for performing the methods are also described.

This invention discloses an approach for the separation of the close-boiling mixture of polyols. The raw material is ethylene glycol containing miscellaneous polyols (such as 1,2-propylene glycol and 1,2-butanediol). Over an acid catalyst, these miscellaneous polyols, through (1) a dehydration reaction, (2) pinacol rearrangement, and (3) acetalization or ketalization reaction, are converted into aldehydes (small amounts), acetals, and ketals (trace amount), which are simultaneously and readily separated via distillation. Meanwhile, after the reaction, the mixture is further separated to obtain an ethylene glycol product at a high purity. The invention provides a technique to remove the miscellaneous polyols from ethylene glycol via liquid-phase dehydration reactions under mild conditions, with low energy consumption. In particular, this approach is markedly effective for the removal of 1,2-butanediol that is difficult to be removed via conventional techniques. The purity of the resulting ethylene glycol product is high, and value-added acetals or ketals are co-produced.

This invention discloses an approach for the separation of the close-boiling mixture of polyols. The raw material is ethylene glycol containing miscellaneous polyols (such as 1,2-propylene glycol and 1,2-butanediol). Over an acid catalyst, these miscellaneous polyols, through (1) a dehydration reaction, (2) pinacol rearrangement, and (3) acetalization or ketalization reaction, are converted into aldehydes (small amounts), acetals, and ketals (trace amount), which are simultaneously and readily separated via distillation. Meanwhile, after the reaction, the mixture is further separated to obtain an ethylene glycol product at a high purity. The invention provides a technique to remove the miscellaneous polyols from ethylene glycol via liquid-phase dehydration reactions under mild conditions, with low energy consumption. In particular, this approach is markedly effective for the removal of 1,2-butanediol that is difficult to be removed via conventional techniques. The purity of the resulting ethylene glycol product is high, and value-added acetals or ketals are co-produced.